GPS and Navigation Products

Navigational System Design & Development Products

We provide complete solutions to design, develop, and operate advanced high-performance GPS receiver (and other navigational) systems through many different software and hardware products. These products integrate modularly and seamlessly, giving users a friendly, upgradable, flexible, and extremely powerful platform. Users can custom-design and build architectures, modify them, evaluate their performance in simulated and live situations, and deploy them, all with the same GPS products. These products include the following components.

Antennas and RF Front Ends receive signals from all satellites, downconvert them to suitable IF frequencies, digitize IF signals (from 2 bits to 16 bits and at around 5 MSPS to 80 MSPS per channel; all parameters user-selected) and transfer them to the computing platform, typically a PC (Personal Computer).

The open-architecture Software Receiver recovers the signal and performs other operations in the PC. It is based on our simulation tool, IMPULSE™, which provides sample by sample simulation (including the emulation of hardware artifacts) at an extremely fast rate. The simulation can be performed either with simulated signals or with real signal samples obtained from the RF front ends and built in processors. The real-time simulation system can first be operated as an efficient simulator and second for real-time hardware development and verification. The user can configure the software with "drag and drop" components, constructing a working GPS receiver in minutes. The software components include tools for signal monitoring and visualization. They parallel the hardware building blocks and translate directly to prototype units.

Once the software receiver transfers raw data samples to the PC, users can process the data immediately (real-time simulation), or store it for subsequent analysis (post-processing). RAM-based storage works best in the short term; hard disk-based storage works best in the long term. We offer all these options in a novel instrument, using modular data-acquisition, data transfer, and storage mechanisms. At a sampling rate of 60 MSPS, users can sample and store two simultaneous channels (L1 and L2) for several hours using our Hard Disk-Based Storage System. This instrument operates like a glorified tape recorder; recording, storing, and replaying (at different speeds) the RF signals.

Commercial PC-based processors cannot process samples at 60 MSPS (P-code) in real-time; however, pre-processors (FPGAs and DSPs) can perform the most process-intensive computations. To this end, the software-based system includes Modular Correlators and DSP Processors for real-time performance.

The software reciever has a truly open architecture. Its various functional elements can come together to develop many different GPS/GNSS signal simulators. The GPS/GNSS Signal Simulator Software produces a data file (similar to sampled, downconverted signals from the RF front end) that the software receiver reads. The software simulates all the current and future (GPS III) waveforms for GPS, all waveforms for Glonass, and all currently defined waveforms for Galileo, and varied conditions (in geometry, dynamics, signal degradation, and waveform) to evaluate a particular software receiver design. These simulations include precisely known conditions, allowing accurate benchmarks.

The software-based GPS/GNSS signal simulator brings flexibility and high fidelity to specialized users. The software simulator continuously updates to include M-code, Galileo, L2C, L5, and other signals of interest.

Simulator-generated data can reside in hard disk-based storage systems and play back (via D/As and upconverters) to produce live GPS/GNSS signals. This Hybrid Simulator offers several advantages. Most notably, it lets the user incorporate conditions impossible with regular hardware simulators.

The complete real-time navigational development system is comprised of software receiver, software signal simulator, RF front ends, correlators, and processors integrated together. This allows the developer to synthesize the signal and modify and design/develop the receiver and evaluate its performance, first using software and once satisfied transfer the code for real-time operation. All GPS waveforms (current and modernized) as well as those for civilian versions of Glonass and Galileo are available.

The navigational system development system products have facilitated numerous users/developers during the design and development of advanced products and systems. The simulation tools provide sample by sample simulation at high clock speeds and provide precise results and fast processing. The codes are next transported to real-time processors. Various System Application examples are shown.

We also offer several Real-Time GPS/GNSS Simulators for all frequencies and currently defined waveforms for current and modernized GPS (III), Glonass, and Galileo. These simulators (signal generators) cover a wide range of uses and applications, from simple receiver design, development, and testing to complext dynamics, anti-jam and hardware-in-the-loop applications.