Radiation testing of commercial-off-the-shelf GPS technology for use on LEO satellites

Within a series of total ionizing dose tests, several DLR Orion and Phoenix GPS receiver as well as a NovAtel OEM4- G2L dual-frequency receiver have been evaluated with regard to their tolerance against radiation typically encountered in LEO space applications. The TID tests have been carried out at the Fraunhofer Institute for Technological Trend Analysis (FhG/INT) using a Cobalt-60 gamma radiation source. In contrast to previously performed GPS receiver radiation tests, the analysis was not confined to electrical parameters only, but also included an investigation of the tracking and navigation performance before, during and after the irradiation.