A highly efficient receiver for satellite-based automatic identification system signal detection

An innovative receiver architecture for the satellite-based automatic identification system has been recently proposed. In this paper, we describe a few modifications that can be introduced on the algorithms for synchronization and detection, which provide an impressive performance improvement. The receiver architecture has been designed for an on-board implementation, and a prototype has been implemented by the University of Parma and CGS S.p.A. Compagnia Generale per lo Spazio under the European Space Agency project FENICE (Flexible innovative AIS receiver prototype). A few modifications are also here described that could allow a further performance improvement in case of processing moved to ground-based stations, based on a priori information there available.