N7609C Signal Studio for Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS)

Simplify Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) Signal Creation

Signal Studio software is a flexible suite of signal-creation tools that will reduce the time you spend on signal simulation. For GNSS, including GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, Beidou and SBAS/QZSS, Signal Studio’s performance-optimized signals—validated by Keysight—enhance the characterization and verification of your devices. Through its application-specific user-interface you’ll create standards-based and custom test signals for receiver test.

Component and transmitter test

Using live off-the-air satellite signals for GNSS receiver verification is unreliable because of the high variability and non-repeatability of these signals. N7609C Signal Studio’s advanced capabilities enable you to create signals that simulate satellites in the GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, or Beidou constellations for testing GNSS receivers in an accurate and repeatable manner. The application simulates multiple signals from many different satellites, with different time delays, Doppler shifts, and power levels. The N7609C software also has the capability to create and transmit impairments such as multipath signals, loss of satellite visibility, and ionospheric and tropospheric atmospheric attenuation, and can also add calibrated AWGN. The ability to add these impairments allows the N7609C to provide a complete suite of signals for full verification of GNSS receivers. Applications include:

• Performance verification and functional test of receivers, during RF/baseband integration and system verification
• Coding verification of baseband subsystems, including FPGAs, ASICs, and DSPs

The N7609C software’s advanced capabilities operate in real-time mode, which is used to define the parameters of nonrepeating and dynamically changing signals needed for receiver testing. Its graphical interface provides a direct instrument connection for parameter transfer and interactive control during signal generation.

For receiver testing in production or simple receiver testing in R&D, the N7609C also offers a basic capability that uses waveform playback mode to generate signals. The waveform files simulate a single static satellite with fixed Doppler shift. These signals can be used to test receiver sensitivity, acquisition, and tracking. Single or multi-satellite satellite waveforms can be created for GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, Beidou (Compass), satellite-based augmentation systems (SBAS), or the Japanese Quazi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS).

Receiver Test

Receiver test using real-time signals#

Signal Studio enables you to easily create reliable and repeatable signals that simulate GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, and/or Beidou satellite signals or GPS dual-band L1 C/A plus L5I and/or L5Q satellite signals for receiver verification tests. The flexibility and features of this intuitive software make it ideal for an R&D environment.

The software simulates up to 15 visible satellites per constellation, depending on the scenario and satellite visibility, and provides a total of 40 channels for satellite and multipath signals for GPS, GLONASS, Beidou and/or SBAS/QZSS. 16 additional channels are available for Galileo satellite and multipath signals. The real-time capability of the software enables you to change the satellite power and visibility while the signal is active, or add multipath or pseudorange errors. Use the static test mode to create simple static satellite signals with real-time adjustments for Doppler shift and delay, and individual power settings for each channel.

Real-time signals simulating orbiting GNSS satellites can be created in two different modes. The first mode uses a stored scenario file, containing the satellite information needed to simulate the signals visible to a receiver at a specific location and time, including the navigation messages. In this mode, signals up to 24 hours in duration can be simulated. A set of preconfigured scenario files is provided with the software. For longer simulations, a second mode uses the scenario generator settings to continuously create new scenario data. This mode requires a continuous data connection to the signal generator.