Abstract: In response to the vulnerability of civilian satellite navigation signals to spoofing attacks, Japan's Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS) began to provide the Quasi-Zenith Satellite Navigation Message Authentication (QZNMA) on the L1C/A frequency in 2024, which greatly enhanced the QZSS system's anti-spoofing capabilities. To evaluate the performance of the Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm (ECDSA) authentication services, the QZSS navigation message authentication technical architecture and authentication protocol are studied, the generation of authentication messages and authentication process based on the ECDSA authentication protocol are analyzed, and simulated navigation messages with authentication data are generated using actual measurement data. The performance of the QZNMA authentication service is then verified through simulation. The results show that the QZNMA authentication error rate is 1.48% (BER = 10-5), the time between authentications is 240 seconds, and that the time to first authentication is 260.71 seconds. Compared with the Galileo Open Service Navigation Message Authentication, QZNMA has significant gaps. The research results can provide reference and guidance for the selection of authentication protocols for future BeiDou Navigation Satellite System navigation message authentication services.

Key words: satellite navigation, QZSS, QZNMA, ECDSA, performance evaluation