In-vehicle satellite positioning is no longer simply about getting from A to B. Satellite navigation and hybrid positioning systems now play a pivotal role in everything from optimising vehicle efficiency to reducing insurance costs and ensuring safety of life.
This means new technical challenges for automotive engineers—and new business challenges for brands working to deliver next-generation vehicles, quickly and competitively.
Testing GNSS and Hybrid Systems
GNSS and hybrid positioning systems now have a broad range of in-vehicle applications:
- Navigation (which could reach lane-level in coming years)
- Indoor and underground positioning
- Road use charging
- Insurance telematics
- Emergency service alerts
No OEM or navigation system supplier can afford to get these wrong. With user experience and safety at stake—reliable, rigorous testing is essential at every stage from R&D through to aftercare.
But the value of traditional field tests is limited:
- The live GNSS signal environment is always changing, making no single test truly repeatable
- Manufacturers need to know how GNSS-enabled systems will perform in radio-frequency (RF) environments across the world, not just on a local test route or track
Rigorous, reliable and cost-effective testing therefore relies on two key technologies: RF simulation and RF record and playback.
Transforming Testing with RF Simulation and Record/Playback
RF simulation gives engineers full control of test signals, parameters and scenarios, for rapid, accurate and comprehensive assessment of GNSS/hybrid system performance.
RF record and playback, meanwhile, brings rigour and efficiency to field testing—capturing the RF signals, CAN bus and sensor data of a real-world test drive for repeated replay in the lab.
With the help of our ground-breaking software, Spirent simulators offer:
- A comprehensive range of current and future GNSS signals (i.e., GPS/SBAS/QZSS, GLONASS, Galileo L1, Beidou-2 and more), all with class-leading accuracy, fidelity and reliability—Spirent GSS6700
- Flexible full scenario generation, including constellation control, propagation, obscuration, antenna patterns, multipath, vehicle trajectory and a range of error models.
- A complete solution for testing integrated in-vehicle navigation systems comprising GNSS and dead reckoning sensors—SimAUTO
- Rapid generation of test trajectories from routes defined in Google Maps®—SimROUTE
- Smart, accelerated testing, with automation for iterations, result recording and reporting—giving engineers the power to leave tests running overnight—TestDrive GNSS
- Enhanced GNSS/inertial system R&D, with unique tools to simulate the output of common MEMS sensors—e.g., gyroscopes—on a predefined trajectory—SimSENSOR
- Fast, reliable production and aftercare, with systems engineered to conduct essential functional tests as rapidly and accurately as possible—Spirent GSS6300, GSS6300M and GSS5300
Our industry-leading Record and Playback System supports
- Higher quality, lower cost drive testing, eliminating time spent struggling to re-run tests in uncontrolled live conditions—GSS6400
- Global drive testing, in your lab—with access to our database of detailed RF environments recorded at key locations across the world—GSS6400
Standardising Tests throughout the Supply Chain
Spirent has world-leading GNSS test solutions at every stage of the supply chain; most GNSS chipsets used in automotive applications—and anywhere else—are developed with the help of a Spirent simulator.
This means we can help you establish and propagate a standardised test regime throughout the supply chain (either upstream, from chipset vendor to OEM, or vice versa), facilitating:
- Simple, universal test portability
- End-to-end test reliability
- Enhanced test transparency
Find Out More
For more information on our automotive test solutions explore the links below, or contact us or contact us at +44 1803 546325 or email us at globalsales@spirent.com.
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