GPS World, May 2012

Industry news and developments GPS Galileo GLONASS BUSINESS THE DEFENSE Navsys Launches GNSS Signal Architect Test Set New Approach to Record Playback and Simulation for Military GPS Testing Navsys Corporation has expanded its GNSS Signal Architect product line to include a fully functional hardware Test Set The fusion of low cost hardware and software provides a solution that keeps pace with the evolving needs of the GPS test industry at prices that are a fraction of typical GPS test systems according to Navsys The GNSS Signal Architect Test Set can record play back and simulate GPS signals to create complex repeatable but realistic test conditions Navsys said Providing frequency coverage through the entire GNSS band the GNSS Signal Architect Test Set serves as a test solution for M P and C A code receivers the company said The Ettus Research Universal Software Radio Peripheral USRP integrated in the Test Set is tunable within the entire GNSS frequency range and provides sufficient real time RF bandwidth for military signals The USRP N210 also offers several options for precise clocking National Instruments offers the functionally equivalent USRP 2920 with LabVIEW support The Test Set includes modifications to optimize the performance of the USRP N210 for GPS testing including an improved reference oscillator and bias tee to provide power to the active L1 antenna provided with the test set The Signal Control Unit SCU includes Gigabit Ethernet 64 bit Linux a Xeon 24 GHz quadcore processor a 176 GB hard drive expandable to 6 TB and 4 GB of RAM expandable to 32 GB The GNSS Signal Architect Software creates simulations of GPS L1 or GLONASS by generating a digital signal file DSF that represents user selected GNSS static or dynamic scenarios The user can specify a complete set of simulation parameters including receiver satellite profiles and delay noise error modeling Playing back the DSF as an RF signal provides accurate and repeatable signals for extensive GNSS receiver testing purposes Navsys also offers a record and playback only version of the GNSS Signal Architect Test Set for users that do not need the advanced simulation capability or users can purchase the GNSS Signal Architect Software separately to run with other compatible receiver test equipment Rohde Schwarz Add GLONASS Military P Code Support to Simulator Rohde Schwarz has added GLONASS and military P code support for GPS to its SMBV100A GNSS simulator The flexible multi purpose vector signal generator can now generate customized scenarios for GPS with commercial C A code plus military P code GLONASS and Galileo from up to 24 satellites in real time the company said Users can define their own scenarios to test GNSS receivers under a variety of conditions The R S SMBV100A supports several satellite mobile radio wireless and radio standards simultaneously Only a few keystrokes are needed to generate complex scenarios that are unlimited in time and utilize up to 24 satellites The user can select the almanac file the number of visible satellites and the receivers geographical position It is also possible to simulate stationary positions and scenarios that simulate the movement of a receiver along a chosen route The user can also simulate restricted reception conditions on the satellites such as driving through a tunnel Simulation of multipath propagation and atmospheric effects result in realistic transmission conditions The R S SMBV100A provides hybrid GPS GLONASS and Galileo scenarios for testing multi standard receivers and offers customization options New features can be added as needed GPS World May 2012 www gpsworld com 30