SPCOMNAV (Signal Processing for Communications and Navigation)

SPCOMNAV (Signal Processing for Communications and Navigation), founded in 2005, advances statistical signal processing for next generation wireless communications, navigation, and localization. Our work spans system level analysis, waveform and receiver design, and the development of robust estimation and detection algorithms for GNSS (GPS, Galileo), LEO PNT, and 5G/6G integrated communication, localization, and sensing systems. We maintain strong collaborations with industry partners, ensuring that our research addresses real-world challenges and accelerates technology transfer.

Usage statistics Most popular
Latest additions:
2026-01-29
15:30
19 p, 1.5 MB A Comparative study on ranging accuracy and interference robustness of LEO-PNT systems in urban and rural scenarios / Foreman Campins, Guillem (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Telecomunicació i Enginyeria de Sistemes) ; López Salcedo, José Antonio (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Telecomunicació i Enginyeria de Sistemes) ; Lohan, Simona (Tampere University)
While Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) have been the primary Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) solution since their advent, new technologies are being sought to address the limitations of GNSS. [...]
2025 - 10.1186/s43020-025-00186-5
Satellite Navigation, Vol. 6 (December 2025) , art. 29  
2026-01-27
15:27
10 p, 3.5 MB Performance Analysis of GNSS + 5G Hybrid Positioning Algorithms for Smartphones in Urban Environments / Liu, Qi (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Telecomunicació i Enginyeria de Sistemes) ; Gao, Chengfa (Southeast University. Department of Transportation) ; Xhafa, Alda (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Telecomunicació i Enginyeria de Sistemes) ; Gao, Wang (Southeast University, Nanjing. Department of Instrument Science and Engineering) ; López Salcedo, José Antonio (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Telecomunicació i Enginyeria de Sistemes) ; Seco Granados, Gonzalo (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Telecomunicació i Enginyeria de Sistemes)
Smartphone positioning methods relying solely on global navigation satellite system (GNSS) are susceptible to significant errors in urban environments due to challenging observation conditions. To enhance position accuracy, this article introduces a novel fifth-generation (5G) observation model based on unit vectors and evaluates its performance using several user locations and precision observation data. [...]
2024 - 10.1109/TIM.2023.3338677
IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement, Vol. 73 (2024) , art. 1000510  
2026-01-23
17:10
9 p, 3.4 MB Hybrid GNSS + 5G Position and Rotation Estimation Algorithm Based on TOA and Unit Vector of Arrival in Urban Environment / Liu, Qi (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Telecomunicació i Enginyeria de Sistemes) ; Gao, Chengfa (Southeast University, Nanjing. Department of Transportation) ; Shang, Rui (Southeast University, Nanjing. Department of Transportation) ; Gao, Wang (Southeast University, Nanjing. Department of Instrument Science and Engineering) ; López Salcedo, José Antonio (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Telecomunicació i Enginyeria de Sistemes) ; Seco Granados, Gonzalo (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Telecomunicació i Enginyeria de Sistemes)
Positioning methods that rely solely on global satellite navigation system (GNSS) measurements have significantly decreased reliability in urban environments and cannot meet the needs of industries, such as autonomous driving. [...]
2024 - 10.1109/TIM.2024.3427761
IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement, Vol. 73 (July 2024) , art. 9512908  
2026-01-21
17:10
18 p, 461.8 KB Optimal Post-Detection Integration Techniques for the Reacquisition of Weak GNSS Signals / Gómez Casco, David (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona) ; López Salcedo, José Antonio (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona) ; Seco Granados, Gonzalo (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona)
This article tackles the problem of finding the optimal noncoherent detector for the reacquisition of weak global navigation satellite system (GNSS) signals in the presence of bits and phase uncertainty. [...]
2020 - 10.1109/TAES.2019.2948449
IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems, Vol. 56, Num. 3 (June 2020) , p. 2302-2311  
2025-12-16
21:10
16 p, 3.5 MB Boundary conditions for snapshot-based spoofing detection using OSNMA unpredictable symbols / Shahid, Husnain (Institut d'Estudis Espacials de Catalunya) ; Egea-Roca, Daniel (Institut d'Estudis Espacials de Catalunya) ; Canzian, Luca (Qascom SRL) ; Sarto, Carlo (Qascom SRL) ; Pozzobon, Oscar (Qascom SRL) ; Reyes-González, J. (European Union Agency for the Space Programme) ; Seco Granados, Gonzalo (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona) ; López Salcedo, José Antonio (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona)
Anti-spoofing techniques for Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receivers are garnering growing interest as crucial facilitators for the deployment of GNSS-based applications and services. To this end, Galileo is providing the Galileo Open Service Navigation Message Authentication (OSNMA), which conveys a set of cryptographic data with the purpose of authenticating the content of the Galileo I/NAV message. [...]
2026 - 10.1007/s10291-025-01968-9
GPS Solutions, Vol. 30, Num. 1 (February 2026) , art. 27  
2025-11-13
06:12
11 p, 615.6 KB Preliminary results of 5G direction of arrival estimation using in-situ calibration with USRP / Xhafa, Alda (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona) ; López Salcedo, José Antonio (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona) ; Seco Granados, Gonzalo (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona)
The demand for high-precision location information in indoor positioning systems such as logistics, security, emergency etc. , has increased the use of 5G systems as an alternative technology solution to the satellite-based positioning technologies. [...]
CEUR-WS, 2023
CEUR workshop proceedings, Vol. 3434 (2023)  
2025-11-13
06:12
9 p, 1.2 MB Pathway to coherent phase acquisition in multi-channel USRP SDRs for direction of arrival estimation / Xhafa, Alda (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Telecomunicació i Enginyeria de Sistemes) ; Fabra, Fran (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Telecomunicació i Enginyeria de Sistemes) ; López Salcedo, José Antonio (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Telecomunicació i Enginyeria de Sistemes) ; Seco Granados, Gonzalo (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Telecomunicació i Enginyeria de Sistemes) ; Lapin, Ivan (European Space Agency (Noordwijk))
This paper sheds lights onto the challenging problem of achieving coherent phase reception between the RF channels of existing multi-channel software-defined radios (SDR). This is a key problem that must be solved, for instance, in applications dealing with 5G positioning and integrated sensing and communications (ISAC) when direction of arrival estimation is needed. [...]
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, 2023 - 10.1109/SDS59856.2023.10329093
2023 Tenth International Conference on Software Defined Systems (SDS), 2023, p. 1-8  
2025-11-12
08:57
15 p, 7.1 MB Experimental Investigation of AoA Estimation and Antenna Calibration With 5G NR SignalsUsing USRP Devices / Xhafa, Alda (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Telecomunicació i Enginyeria de Sistemes) ; Fabra, Fran (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Telecomunicació i Enginyeria de Sistemes) ; Egea-Roca, Daniel (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Telecomunicació i Enginyeria de Sistemes) ; López Salcedo, José Antonio (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Telecomunicació i Enginyeria de Sistemes) ; Seco Granados, Gonzalo (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Telecomunicació i Enginyeria de Sistemes)
The advent of 5G technology has significantly advanced the capability of centimeter-level positioning, with angle of arrival (AoA) estimation emerging as a key technique to achieve this level of accuracy. [...]
2025 - 10.1109/TIM.2025.3569347
IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement, Vol. 74 (May 2025) , art. 5504515
2 documents
2025-10-30
03:50
Improving Galileo OSNMA time to first authenticated fix / Galan-Figueras, Aleix (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. Department of Electrical Engineering) ; Fernandez-Hernandez, Ignacio (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. Department of Electrical Engineering) ; Wilde, Wim De (Septentrio NV (Leuven)) ; Pollin, Sofie (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. Department of Electrical Engineering) ; Seco Granados, Gonzalo (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Telecomunicació i Enginyeria de Sistemes)
Galileo is the first global navigation satellite system to authenticate its civilian signals through the open service navigation message authentication (OSNMA) protocol. However, OSNMA adds a delay in the time to obtain a first position and time fix, the so-called time to first authentication fix (TTFAF). [...]
2025 - 10.1109/TAES.2025.3570273
IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems, Vol. 61, issue 5 (October 2025) , p. 11720-11735  
2025-09-23
14:36
10 p, 2.9 MB Performance Analysis of Spoofing and Interference Detection Techniques for Satellite-Based Augmentation System and Global Navigation Satellite System Reference Receivers / Alvarez Molina, Xavier (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Telecomunicació i Enginyeria de Sistemes) ; Seco Granados, Gonzalo (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Telecomunicació i Enginyeria de Sistemes) ; Solé Gaset, Marc (Indra Espacio) ; Locubiche-Serra, Sergi (Indra Espacio) ; López Salcedo, José Antonio (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Telecomunicació i Enginyeria de Sistemes)
Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) reference receivers are an essential part of ground stations that make the operation of Satellite-Based Augmentation Systems (SBAS) possible. Recently, there has been increasing concern about spoofing and interference events, which may seriously hinder the operation of GNSS receivers in liability- and safety-critical applications and, in particular, SBAS ground stations. [...]
2025 - 10.3390/engproc2025088038
Engineering proceedings, Vol. 88, Issue 1 (April 2025) , art. 38