Web Based Resources on Software GPS Receivers

Ravindra Babu School of Surveying and Spatial Information Systems The University of New South Wales Sydney NSW 2052 Australia E-mail: s.ravi@unsw.edu.au Fax: +61 2 9313 7493 Tel: +61 2 9385 4206 This column provides the web-based GPS resources and their technical background information. Its purpose is to inform the reader about the data, software, and electronic documents that are available online. This column is coordinated by Dr. Jinling Wang, The University of New South Wales, Sydney. Comments and suggestions are appreciated (jinling.wang@unsw.edu.au). In this issues column, Mr. Ravindra Babu introduces some of the online resources relating to Software GPS Receivers.

Introduction A Software GPS Receiver is one where the post A/D (analogue to digital) converter operations are performed in software. Software receivers are emerging as an important technology in both commercial and military applications due to their multi-faceted advantages: design flexibility, faster adaptability, faster time-to-market, optimising the algorithms at any stage, etc. Such receivers can easily be built using a general purpose computer or on a dedicated platform using digital signal processors. In addition, the availability of commercial processors with increasing processing power is further fuelling the growth of software receivers. With its adaptable nature, software receivers are becoming an indispensable tool for developing optimal solutions. Modern receivers encounter severe operational environments such as: RF interference, multipath, weak signals, etc., which hampers the normal receiver

operation. These widely varying situations can be addressed using a Software Receiver by optimising algorithms according to the environment where it is used. Although the advantages of a software receiver are manifold, the main drawback of this type of receiver is the slow throughput. The throughput of a software receiver is slower than its hardware counterpart the ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) chip. On a relative scale, the ASIC runs at a blazing speed compared to a software receiver. However, due to its flexible nature, the software receivers are clearly emerging as a viable future technology. The inter-operability requirements of GPS and GALILEO receivers (possibly GLONASS also) are further pushing the development of software technology. There is an extensive range of websites that are directly or indirectly related to the technologies and applications of Software Receivers. This column presents a selection of publicly available web-based resources on commercial software receivers and research being carried out in these areas. The selection encompasses commercial manufacturers and universities that provide electronic versions of their publications.

Accord Software & Systems http://www.accord-soft.com This is the website of the Accord Software & Systems Private Limited, India. The website http://www.accord-products.com/ lists out all of their GPS products. These commercial products can be procured off-the-shelf. The company also specialises in Signal Processing, Embedded Systems, Avionics and IT Services. As witnessed from this website, some of their products Signal Tap, Correlator Simulator are extremely useful for university research where post-processing techniques are adopted to determine optimal algorithms. Using Signal Tap, experiments can be carried out in the real world and data can be stored for laboratory analysis. Correlator Simulator gives an insight into the correlator operations such as the code and carrier tracking loops. The data sheets for each product are provided.

Aerospace Engineering Sciences Colorado University http://ecadw.colorado.edu/engineering/news/CUE/2004/depts/aerospace.htm

This department is applying software radio principles to GPS and other navigation systems. The research group is extensively evaluating whether software-based GPS receivers could be used in next-generation aircraft landing systems. Using software receivers, the group is also conducting multipath experiments on-board the Boeing 777 aircraft.

Center for Remote Sensing http://www.centerforremotesensing.com The Real Time Navigational Development System from Center for Remote Sensing aids the design, development, testing, and operation of real-time, single- and dual-frequency GPS, as well as other types of receivers. In addition, the software receiver design is based on an open architecture which is useful for future developments such as M-code receivers, Signal Generators, GLONASS and GALILEO systems. The system consists of antenna, down converters, software receivers, front ends, real-time processors, FPGA correlators, preprocessors, and embedded processors for real-time prototyping and running of the software receiver (http://www.centerforremotesensing.com/Products/Radio/gps1.pdf). The software receiver uses the Windows-based IMPULSE software for system development. They also provide a Software Based Signal Simulator which can simulate GPS signals under different scenarios. The Software Receiver developed by CRS is also used in atmospheric studies such as i o n o s p h e r i c s c i n t i l l a t i o n r e s e a r c h (http://www.agu.org/pubs/crossref/2004/2002RS002812.shtml).

Data Fusion Corporation http://www.datafusion.com The Data Fusion Corporation provides IF Software receiver toolkits in Matlab, C, and C/DSP configurations. Using these toolkits, specific scenarios can be generated to test and validate new algorithms. These toolkits are ideal for research environments. Some of their product highlights and descriptions are described in the website. The software has the facility to perform both coherent and non-coherent integrations. The IF frequency and sampling rates are user defined. The software receiver can run on Windows OS and UNIX platforms. Electrical Engineering Cornell University

http://gps.ece.cornell.edu A 12-channel GPS L1 software receiver was developed by this group in association with Mark Psiaki of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from the same University (http://gps.ece.cornell.edu/swreceiver_paper5_ION.pdf). They used a commercial RF frontend for generating the 2 bit digitised samples. The Linux operating system is used to control the signal tracking and navigation functions. The hardware and software configurations along with the system requirements are provided in this paper. Some real time plots are also given in this website. Mark Psiaki developed the Smoother-Based Signal Tracking and Block Acquisition of Weak Signals using a Software GPS Receiver (http://www.mae.cornell.edu/Psiaki/).

Navsys Corporation http://www.navsys.com The Navsys Software GPS Receiver (SGR) is designed to be adapted to the future GPS requirements. It is fully reprogrammable in both software and firmware. The SGR related products are High-Gain Advanced GPS Receiver (HAGR), Advanced GPS Hybrid Simulator (AGHS), and GPS Signal Simulation Toolbox. The SGR software can be ported to any customer specific hardware or can be run on their HAGR. The HAGR not only provides tracking and navigation functions, but also can be configured to perform digital beam steering for effective tracking. The AGHS simulator is capable of generating and playing back the digitised samples which can be optimised to suit different applications. The Matlab-based GPS Signal Toolbox can be used to generate various scenarios, perform tracking, navigation and analysis. The SGR can also log I/Q (in-phase/quadrature) data from a correlator at high data rates. The components that comprise the SGR receiver, the hardware requirements, and the products information are described in (http://www.navsys.com/Products/). The website (http://www.navsys.com/Papers/) provides a good deal of collection of Software Receiver based papers. NordNav Technologies http://www.nordnav.com Nordnav Technologies develops Software Receivers for GPS/Galileo applications such as: automotive, marine, aviation, and personal positioning. Their unique and cost-effective

approach enables their receivers to be easily integrated with new or existing products. The Nordnav R Series products R20TM, R30TM and R25TM (www.nordnav.com/products) include basic and advanced functionalities, and can easily cater to research, development, test and verification. This website also provides information such as how their products can be used for faster development and marketing. The Nordnav-R30 is a 14-channel receiver which can provide data rates as high as 50Hz. It also allows individual channel settings which would be convenient for analysis. Some of their products also support additional features like Signal Injection and Multiple Correlators per channel. External aiding to the tracking loops can be easily done using their APIs. Data sheets and other documents can be obtained from (http://nordnav.com/downloads/).

Position, Location and Navigation (PLAN) Research Group University of Calgary, Canada http://plan.geomatics.ucalgary.ca/research.php This research group is currently involved in the development of GNSS software receivers. This website provides all the publications related to their ongoing Software Receiver projects.

SDR Forum Software Defined Radio Technical Conference and Product Exposition http://www.sdrforum.org This is an international industry association for reconfigurable wireless technologies. Though this forum is not specific to GPS technology, nevertheless there is a wealth of information related to Software Receiver concepts. The discussions cover a large segment of the applications. Navsys Corporation has also demonstrated some of its capabilities in this forum. Additional details on this forum can be obtained from its website.

Shibasaki Lab, Centre for Spatial Information Science The University of Tokyo http://www.shiba.iis.u-tokyo.ac.jp/

This is the website of the Shibasaki Lab, Centre for Spatial Information Science, University of Tokyo. As software receivers are a burgeoning market, this lab is extensively working in this area. The website (http://shiba.iis.u-tokyo.ac.jp/member/current/dinesh/research/GNSS/GPS/SoftwareGPS.htm) describes how their software receivers are used in many of their research applications. Several Power Point slides and papers pertaining to this area can be downloaded. Some lecture notes and multipath simulation experiments are also provided on this website.

Spirit Corp. http://www.spiritcorp.com Spirit offers a 16-channel software GPS receiver along with navigation and data processing algorithms on a single fixed point DSP processor. Some of its features are: compact design, low power consumption, low production costs, etc. Documentation on this product is provided at (http://www.etools.de/downloads/spiritgps16channeldatasheet.pdf). They do not sell receivers, but offer state-of-the-art technologies. Further details on this product can also be obtained from (http://www.spiritcorp.com/16channel.html).