Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) have revolutionised the world in which we live. But testing the systems, developing algorithms and proving new applications would be difficult, slow and prohibitively expensive were it not for the availability of efficient, accurate simulator systems. That’s where Spirent comes in. Spirent is the world’s leading provider of GNSS test and simulation systems, with a history of innovation, stretching back nearly 25 years. Spirent provides high quality simulation solutions across all GNSS Systems, on all frequencies and all services.
Spirent’s Positioning and Navigation offices in Paignton, Devon, UK
Our Credentials
Over the past few years Spirent has developed new systems for testing:
Providing test solutions to the main issues facing GNSS developers and integrators
Modernised GPS, Galileo, GLONASS and Compass signals are all coming online over the next few years. Augmentation systems such as EGNOS, WAAS and the soon to be GAGAN and QZSS systems add to the mix of signals and technologies available to those developing GNSS. At the same time, navigation and positioning applications are becoming more widespread, with end user demands increasing. A significant amount of research and development is currently underway by the technology and applications development community to respond to this expansion in capabilities.
Spirent, as an official provider of test systems to support the development and in-orbit validation of the Galileo project, understands the issues developers face. Spirent Galileo systems are interoperable with Spirent GPS, SBAS and GLONASS simulators, enabling a full multi-system, multi-frequency test environment.
Spirent solves your critical test challenges
Testing with simulators is the widely accepted best practice for validating the performance of GNSS receivers and systems in many different scenarios and operating conditions in a controlled laboratory environment. Simulators are used extensively in academia and industry, in virtually all GNSS receiver manufacturing and major system integration, and in many different application fields including navigation, positioning, telecommunications, aviation, automotive, and space, for both civilian and military applications. Using simulators facilitates several stages of research and product development, including requirements analysis, design and development, integration, production, maintenance, and support.
GNSS simulators provide many benefits, including:
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Control. Simulators allow complete control over all aspects of test scenarios, including GNSS constellation signals and environmental conditions
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Flexibility. Users can easily define different scenarios for different testing needs
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Completeness. Equipment can be tested under different operating conditions, ranging from nominal to extreme, including conditions that are impractical or impossible to produce in live testing
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Repeatability. Test scenarios are the same every time they are executed
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Reliability. Because all test conditions are controlled, test results are reliable, and equipment performance can be evaluated against known truth data
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Cost. Tests are conducted in the laboratory, without extra expenses for field tests and test vehicles
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Efficiency. Many different tests can be completed in the same laboratory test bed, without reconfiguring or relocating equipment. New test scenarios can be created and executed quickly
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Future. Simulators provide effective means of testing new and future GNSS capabilities that are not yet supported by actual constellations, such as the GPS L2C and L5 signals and the Galileo system]
Why Choose Spirent
No one else in the world of GNSS testing and simulation puts so much time and resources into supporting their customers. In addition to the unrivalled expertise at head office, Spirent customers have over 150 people to call on for technical assistance and sales through:
- A local sales presence in over 30 countries world-wide
- Regional support centres in the USA, Asia and Europe
In our verification labs we are capable of reproducing any GNSS test simulation you might come up with and provide whatever help and advice you need.
Spirent’s Heritage
Throughout its history, Spirent has always sought to understand customers’ needs for GNSS testing over the past 22 years. In 1991, for instance, Spirent embarked on the radical development of a brand new simulator that would be run on a desktop VMS workstation rather than the floor standing Microvax2.
The result was the STR2760 that was launched at the ION-GPS-1991 convention. This was the product that revolutionised the GPS simulator market as it offered twice as many signal generation channels in a single benchtop unit.
In 1998, it was Spirent that launched the first commercial GLONASS simulator. In 2003, Spirent launched the GSS7700 series GPS/SBAS simulator, enabling support for Binary Offset Carrier signals such as those used within GPS M-code and the planned Galileo system. Three years later, the company was selected to provide Galileo RF Constellation Simulators to support the Galileo Ground Mission Segment and Test User Segment elements of Galileo In Orbit Validation.
The spirit of innovation, coupled with a sense of what the GNSS community actually needs, continues to drive the company forward – with the launch of the GSS8000 Multi-GNSS Constellation Simulator.
Up to three RF carriers, selected from a range of constellations and signals (GPS, Galileo and GLONASS), can be accommodated in a single signal generator chassis, enabling multiple signals from a single constellation or hybrid systems with signals from multiple constellations to be tested. The architecture supports future Compass and QZSS signals.
This is important, because in future most receivers will be Multi-GNSS, many will also be using augmentation as a key aspect of the navigation or positioning solution. A technology originally dictated by military requirements is now viewed as strategic to support economic growth driven by the commercial market.
Multi-GNSS offers significant opportunities and challenges to GNSS technology, system and application developers. Since the launch of the GSS8000, Spirent has added 2 new Multi-GNSS simulation platforms to their portfolio. Spirent’s Multi-GNSS simulation solutions range from basic single-channel simulators, suitable for simple GPS/GNSS production testing, through multi channel, multi constellation simulators, suitable for the most demanding research and engineering applications.
However, GNSS is not always the answer, particularly in indoor environments or in the dense ‘Urban Canyon’ where satellite-based signals are critically compromised by obscuration and environmental degradation. In these situations, other technologies already in the consumer device are being utilised to bridge the gap, such as Cell-ID and particularly Wi-Fi. Positioning techniques based around the pattern of observations associated with multiple Wi-Fi ‘hotspots’ include ‘fingerprinting’ where observations are compared to previously mapped locations, and “trilateration”, where received power is used as an indication of distance from the transmitter and a geometric calculation against known transmitter locations is used to locate the device.
Spirent has recently introduced a unique test system that provides a controlled and repeatable environment of observable Wi-Fi hotspots to support Wi-Fi positioning test. Spirent’s unique multiple Access Point Wi-Fi positioning simulator, the GSS5700, is a comprehensive tool for device R&D, particularly when combined with GNSS simulation.
Multi-frequency GNSS will increasingly be used to support applications requiring sub-metre accuracy and Spirent has committed to providing the necessary test tools required by our customers and simulator users.”
Spirent’s Multi-GNSS platforms
- The GSS8000 Multi-GNSS Simulator provides up to 3 constellations (GPS/SBAS, GLONASS and Galileo) in a single chassis. GPS configurations can also support QZSS.
- The GSS6700 Multi-GNSS simulation system offers 12 channels of coherent GPS/SBAS, GLONASS and Galileo L1 signals from a single chassis and is aimed at the design and integration market.
- The GSS6300 Multi-GNSS Generator is designed specifically for production test applications where a single channel is required for controlled GNSS testing and can provides a simulated signal from a GPS, SBAS, GLONASS or Galileo satellite at the L1 / E1 frequency.
- Spirent’s multiple Access Point Wi-Fi positioning simulator. The GSS5700 simulates Wi-Fi network elements to enable lab-based testing of the latest Wi-Fi positioning technology. The GSS5700 can work as a stand-alone test instrument, or in conjunction with Spirent’s GPS/GNSS and automated location test products.
What's more, Spirent is fully committed to continuing to invest in the provision of class leading test solutions for all future GNSS systems on all frequencies and services. If you want to test the future, Spirent will be there.
