GPS World, March 2015

Signal Simulators DESIGN TESTING FIGURE 9 Beamforming for PRN 22 light green line in lower plot to mitigate for interference FIGURE 10 Tracking is lost after switching off beamforming for individual channels light blue purple and all channels at the end of the plot could be tagged as a multipath signal This approach would allow simulation of the complete environment of real and repeated GNSS signals in one single simulator Manufacturers The simulator producing the results described here is the NavX NCS from IFEN GmbH www ifen com The simulator is valuable laboratory equipment for testing not only standard or high end single antenna GNSS receivers but also offers additional benefit for multi antenna GNSS receivers like the DLR GALANT controlled reception pattern antenna system The GNSS constellation simulator offers up to four phasecoherent RF outputs allowing the simulation of four antenna elements with two carrier frequencies each utilizing one single chassis being 19 inch wide and 2 HU high Simulation of intentional and unintentional interference is a possible feature of the simulator and allows receiver designers and algorithm developers to test and enhance their applications in the presence of interference to identify locate and mitigate for interference sources THORSTEN LÜCK studied electrical engineering at the universities in Stuttgart and Bochum He received a Ph D Dr Ing from the University of the Federal Armed Forces in Munich in 2007 on INS GNSS integration for rail applications Since 2003 he has worked for IFEN GmbH where he started as head of R D embedded systems in the receiver technology division In 2012 he changed from receiver development to simulator technologies as product manager of IFENs professional GNSS simulator series NavX NCS and head of the navigation products department GÜNTER HEINRICHS is the head of the Customer Applications Department and business development at IFEN GmbH Poing Germany He received a Dipl Ing degree in communications engineering in 1988 a Dipl Ing degree in data processing engineering and a Dr Ing degree in electrical engineering in 1991 and 1995 respectively In 1996 he joined the satellite navigation department of MAN Technologie AG in Augsburg Germany where he was responsible for system architectures and design digital signals and data processing of satellite navigation receiver systems From 1999 to April 2002 he served as head and R D manager of MAN Technologies satellite navigation department ACHIM HORNBOSTEL joined the German Aerospace Center DLR in 1989 after he received his engineer diploma in electrical engineering from the University of Hannover in the same year Since 2000 he has been a staff member of the Institute of Communications and Navigation at DLR He was involved in several projects for remote sensing satellite communications and satellite navigation In 1995 he received his Ph D in electrical engineering from the University of Hannover His main activities are in receiver development interference mitigation and signal propagation FIGURE 11 Geometry of repeater spoofer and GNSS receiver FIGURE 12 Simulators capability to simulate a repeater www gpsworld com March 2015 GPS World 31