GPS receiver toolkit

National Instruments has announced the GPS Toolkit for LabVIEW that expands the RF PXI platform to include multi-satellite GPS signal simulation.

Using LabVIEW software to create waveforms that simulate up to 12 satellites (C/A codes in the L1 band), engineers can test receiver characteristics such as sensitivity, time to first fix (TTFF) and position accuracy with the PXIe-5672 RF vector signal generator.

With the toolkit, engineers can use a combination of simulated and recorded GPS waveforms as a low-cost solution for receiver design validation and verification. By recording live GPS signals off the air with a PXI-5661 RF vector signal analyser and a PXI-5690 pre-amplifier (low noise amplifier), engineers can capture GPS signals with natural impairments that a receiver would observe in the real world.

They can also generate both simulated and recorded signals with the signal generator, by continuously streaming GPS waveforms from hard disk.

With a 2 TB redundant array of inexpensive disks (RAID) hard drive option, engineers can generate up to 12.5 mins of non-repeating simulated waveform or 25 h of continuous recorded GPS signal to test how the receiver responds to a broad range of circumstances.

Engineers can combine the toolkit with the modulation toolkit for LabVIEW, TestStand test management software and PXI RF modular instrumentation for a complete, low-cost production test solution.