Why use a GNSS Simulator?
Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) simulators pull schedules to the left, reduce costs, and produce more complete analyses for testing and integration projects. Here’s everything you need to know about why military and commercial projects rely on GNSS simulation.
Perfecting GNSS Simulation Solutions
CAST Navigation has earned a trusted position in the industry by pioneering GNSS simulation technology for more than 40 years. We share our expertise here to help those new to the GNSS simulation understand how today’s state-of-the-art simulation technology produces accurate, precise, and repeatable results for even the most challenging simulation scenarios.
What is a GNSS Simulator?
GNSS simulators enable laboratory reproduction of the signals produced by a GNSS receiver’s antenna. Doing so requires advanced modeling of satellite motion, vehicle motion, and other variables that affect signal reception. The resulting radio frequency (RF) output lets projects test receivers under a broader range of simulated conditions than they could outside the lab.
How satellite positioning works
America’s Global Positioning System (GPS), the world’s first GNSS, consists of a constellation of 32 satellites, 24 active and 8 standbys. From medium Earth orbits, the active satellites broadcast their orbital positions and time information. GPS used two carrier frequencies (L1 and L2) in its original form, the first available to civilian users and the second restricted to military use. Over the next few years, modernized GPS satellites will use additional frequencies to improve GPS performance.
Receivers on the ground, at sea, in flight, or in orbit use these satellite signals to calculate their positions. A single-element antenna will detect signals from GPS satellites visible above the horizon. The timing and phase of each signal arriving at the antenna element will vary depending on factors such as:
- Antenna orientation
- Antenna placement on the vehicle
- Vehicle orientation
- Vehicle motion
The signals arriving at the antenna element form an RF wavefront. The receiver uses this RF wavefront to calculate the receiver’s vertical and horizontal position. A GPS receiver’s positioning data may be accurate within 10 meters when using one signal per satellite.
Positioning accuracy can be improved by:
- Detecting more satellites
- Using phased-array antennas with multiple elements
- Using 2 or more signals from each satellite
- Augmenting GPS with other space or ground-based systems
GNSS services such as those from Europe (Galileo), Russia (GLONASS), or China (BeiDou) operate similarly. Receivers compatible with multiple GNSS constellations will detect more satellites, allowing them to calculate more accurate and reliable positions.
How a GNSS simulator works
A GNSS simulator is a laboratory tool that recreates the output from an actual GNSS antenna at a specific time and place. To do this reliably, the simulator must simultaneously model:
- Motion of satellites in multiple GNSS constellations
- Ionospheric and atmospheric conditions affecting signal propagation
- Antenna configuration and placement
- Vehicle motion in 6 degrees of freedom (DOF)
Project teams can evaluate the receiver’s response to the simulator’s output under a range of conditions by changing the simulator’s parameters. Since the simulator records its output as well as the receiver’s output, the resulting analysis can quickly identify error sources.
Other ways to test GNSS receivers
A quick-and-easy way to test a GNSS receiver is to connect an antenna and see what it does. This live-sky testing is simple and does not require additional equipment. Installing the receiver in a vehicle and recording its output lets engineers analyze the receiver’s performance in motion. This approach, however, does not produce robust data and cannot predict receiver performance when deployed.
Limited to conditions during test:
Live-sky testing only observes receiver performance at one time and location. It is limited to the number of visible satellites as well as the environmental and other conditions existing at that time. The test cannot indicate how the receiver would perform under different conditions.
Unrepeatable:
Live-sky testing is not repeatable. All the conditions that exist on one day never quite align the same way on subsequent days. Reproducing anomalous results may not be possible. The test program may never confirm the effectiveness of changes made based on earlier tests.
Analysis complexity and ambiguity:
Live-sky tests control a few variables by choosing where and when to perform the test. Most sources of error affecting the incoming GNSS signals are beyond the project team’s control. Moreover, the test conditions are not reproducible. Any conclusions based on live-sky tests are limited to the test conditions, not the receiver’s overall performance.
Cannot reproduce real-world use cases:
Even if a project conducts multiple live-sky tests, it cannot evaluate all the conditions the receiver will experience. For example, test sites at mid latitudes see GNSS satellites at different inclinations than sites at high latitudes.
GNSS Simulation Advantages
Simulation variety
Rather than being limited to the conditions present at a single place and time, engineers can create simulation scenarios to model receiver behavior under any condition, anywhere, and at any time. Scenarios can specify which constellations and satellites are present, what environmental conditions affect signal reception, and how the simulated vehicles and antennas move during the experiment.
Simulation control
GNSS simulators give project teams complete control over their test programs. Sequential test runs can evaluate a single parameter’s effects or support multivariate analysis while keeping all other conditions constant. With reliably repeatable results, GNSS simulators reduce the time for root cause analysis and let projects complete their testing faster with higher confidence.
Simulation fidelity
Reliable, repeatable test results make testing programs more productive. Evaluations of receiver performance are more comprehensive across the range of expected operating conditions. Simulator projects get more done, at a higher quality, in less time, and at a lower cost.
How a GNSS Simulation Works
GNSS simulation lets project teams develop sophisticated scenarios for their test programs, including:
- Aircraft performing extreme dynamic maneuvers
- Ships in heavy seas
- Multi-vehicle simulations
Producing consistently repeatable results requires advanced, configurable GNSS simulators, whether for simple or complex scenarios.
GNSS configuration
CAST Navigation’s GNSS simulators let customers configure every parameter that influences GNSS reception. Advanced solutions can add interference and adversarial jamming to understand how receivers would perform in even more realistic conditions
A CAST Navigation GNSS simulator can simultaneously model up to 4 GNSS constellations — with up to 16 satellites in view per constellation — and generate composite RF outputs from up to 8 simulated antenna elements.
Satellite configuration
CAST Navigation’s GNSS simulators let customers configure every parameter that influences GNSS reception. Advanced solutions can add interference and adversarial jamming to understand how receivers would perform in even more realistic conditions.
A CAST Navigation GNSS simulator can simultaneously model up to 4 GNSS constellations — with up to 16 satellites in view per constellation — and generate composite RF outputs from up to 8 simulated antenna elements.
Vehicle configuration
A graphical interface lets you configure the receiver on various land, sea, air, or space vehicles. Each vehicle profile accounts for actual antenna placement relative to the vehicle’s center of gravity as well as the vehicle’s RF silhouette.
To simulate the vehicle’s GNSS reception in motion, scenario profiles can include 6-DOF trajectories. These trajectories can consist of multiple, highly-dynamic maneuvers that would be challenging to test in flight.
Synchronizing multiple CAST GNSS simulators allows project teams to explore multi-vehicle scenarios that would be prohibitively expensive in the field. Producing consistently repeatable results requires advanced, configurable GNSS simulators, whether for simple or complex scenarios.
To simulate the vehicle’s GNSS reception in motion, scenario profiles can include 6-DOF trajectories. These trajectories can consist of multiple, highly-dynamic maneuvers that would be challenging to test in flight. Synchronizing multiple CAST GNSS simulators allows project teams to explore multi-vehicle scenarios that would be prohibitively expensive in the field.
Interference configuration
Scenarios can control for many environmental conditions that affect GNSS reception, including multipath interference and atmospheric delays. CAST Navigation solutions can include a Jammer simulator, which reproduces the natural, industrial, and adversarial interference receivers experience in the field.
Tailored GNSS Simulation Solutions
With a singular focus on GNSS simulation solutions, CAST Navigation has a proven track record with commercial and military customers alike. These solutions support EGI integration, CRPA testing, GNSS receiver evaluation, and more by combining our four core simulation capabilities:
GNSS. GNSS simulation systems generate multi-frequency, multi-constellation radio frequency signals to simulate GNSS reception by ground, sea, air, or space vehicles.
INS. INS simulators provide high-rate inertial data to stimulate modern integrated navigation systems and embedded GNSS/INS (EGI) systems.
CRPA. CRPA simulation systems generate precise, coherent, and repeatable GNSS RF wavefronts for testing phased array antenna systems.
Jammer. Jammer systems introduce natural, industrial, and adversarial interference signals to GNSS simulations for testing of jam-resistant equipment.