BenchLink: An SoC-Based Benchmark for Resilient Communication Links in GPS-Denied Environments

Abstract: Accurate timing and synchronization, typically enabled by GPS, are essential for modern wireless communication systems. However, many emerging applications must operate in GPS-denied environments where signals are unreliable or disrupted, resulting in oscillator drift and carrier frequency impairments. To address these challenges, we present BenchLink, a System-on-Chip (SoC)-based benchmark for resilient communication links that functions without GPS and supports adaptive pilot density and modulation. Unlike traditional General Purpose Processor (GPP)-based software-defined radios (e.g. USRPs), the SoC-based design allows for more precise latency control. We implement and evaluate BenchLink on Zynq UltraScale+ MPSoCs, and demonstrate its effectiveness in both ground and aerial environments. A comprehensive dataset has also been collected under various conditions. We will make both the SoC-based link design and dataset available to the wireless community. BenchLink is expected to facilitate future research on data-driven link adaptation, resilient synchronization in GPS-denied scenarios, and emerging applications that require precise latency control, such as integrated radar sensing and communication.