Characterizing GPS Disciplined Oscillators for Distributed Vehicle-to-X Measurement Applications

In this paper, we analyze the reference signal stability of 1 PPS and 10 MHz signals provided by a low-cost GPS disciplined oscillator under application specific conditions using a comparable light-weight measurement system based on software defined radio and digital signal processing. In mobile measurement scenarios, GPS signal impairments are inevitable, due to obstacles such as buildings, street canyons, bridges, and tunnels. Therefore, we preliminarily characterize four GPSDOs under test in a stationary setup using controlled GPS reception loss to drive them into alternating operation modes, namely free-run, disciplined and holdover mode. Further, we conducted a more than 100 km real-world diversified test drive to characterize the performance of the particular GPSDO as realistically as possible for the intended use in mobile V2X measurements.