New Toolkit Automates GPS Receiver Test

Use the NI GPS Toolkit for NI LabVIEW to test GPS receivers in simulated real-world conditions.

GPS devices are becoming increasingly integrated into daily use. You probably already use a GPS receiver in your car, boat, or cell phone. Yet, while GPS usage has become more common, the underlying technology remains quite complex. In fact, receivers use sophisticated decoding algorithms and highly sensitive receivers to obtain accurate position information – even when signal strength is low. As a result, GPS test requires a stimulus that accurately emulates satellite conditions receivers are likely to encounter in the real world. To address this need, National Instruments now offers the NI GPS Toolkit for LabVIEW. When paired with the NI PXIe-5672 RF vector signal generator, you can create custom scenarios and test GPS receivers for the following characteristics: 

• Coarse acquisition (C/A) GPS generation in the L1 band 
• Emulation of up to 12 simultaneous satellites 
• Sensitivity measurements with programmatic RF output power control 
• Time to first fix (TTFF) measurements by achieving a position fix 
• Ability to choose the receiver’s longitude, latitude, and altitude 
• Receiver mobility simulation through Doppler shift (x-, y-, and z-axis velocity) 
• Creation of custom scenarios by downloading additional almanac and ephemeris files 

The NI GPS Toolkit is an add-on for the NI Modulation Toolkit for LabVIEW and is priced at $1,995 USD; E1,949; and ¥284,000*. 

Read an in-depth application note on GPS receiver testing.

*All prices are subject to change without notice.

This article first appeared in the Q2 2008 issue of Instrumentation Newsletter.

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