This paper evaluates the fundamental performance bounds, signal processing and technological complexity associated with the synchronization to radio and X-ray pulsars as well as its impact on the positioning accuracy of an autonomous spacecraft navigation system. Performance analysis of synchronization and location algorithms builds on Maximum Likelihood (ML) estimation which provides, asymptotically, unbiased minimum variance estimates with mean square error strictly approaching the Cramer-Rao Lower Bound (CRLB).

Peer Reviewed