Using the Universal Software Radio Peripheral (USRP N210) as a RF Front-End for a Wide-Band Multi-Constellation GNSS Signal Receiver

Ningyan Guo, Staffan Backen, Dennis Akos

Abstract:	This paper has implemented a wide-band multi-constellation GNSS signal receiver in conjunction with a universal software radio peripheral (USRP N210). This paper aims at designing this full-constellation GNSS receiver by utilizing a cost effective, readily available, and flexible front-end. This front-end should be wide enough to capture the frequency from 1555 MHz to 1607 MHz, more than 50MHz. Compass E2, Galileo E1, GPS L1 and GLONASS G1 is taken into account. After comparing different GNSS front-end options, universal software radio peripheral (USRP N210) platform is selected as the appropriate RF front-end. However, two main shortcomings appear in USRP N210. First, its unstable onboard TCXO oscillator is not sufficient for GNSS applications. We, finally, use a high-quality external OCXO oscillator as the USRP N210 reference clock when conducting the GNSS applications. Second, it has limited sample capture bandwidth 25MHz that is not wide enough for recording 50MHz full-constellation GNSS signals. Therefore, we reconfigure USRP N210 platform and develop our custom wide-band firmware. An experimental system was set up to record wide-band multi-constellation GNSS data. Final results achieved wide-band full-constellation GNSS satellites signals acquisition and tracking; concluding with the GPS and GLONASS position solutions.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 25th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GNSS 2012) September 17 - 21, 2012 Nashville Convention Center, Nashville, Tennessee Nashville, TN
Pages:	2986 - 2994
Cite this article:	Guo, Ningyan, Backen, Staffan, Akos, Dennis, "Using the Universal Software Radio Peripheral (USRP N210) as a RF Front-End for a Wide-Band Multi-Constellation GNSS Signal Receiver," Proceedings of the 25th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GNSS 2012), Nashville, TN, September 2012, pp. 2986-2994.
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