GNSS Receiver Technology Trends

J-H. Won, S-J. Ko, I. Krämer

Abstract:	This paper presents the results of a study recently performed by the Institute of Space Technology and Space Applications (ISTA) of the University of Federal Armed Forces (UFAF) Munich under the contract with European Space Agency (ESA), entitled “Survey on Commercial Ground Navigation Receiver Worldwide (SurRex)”. The study had two main objectives one of which was the identification of key technological performance parameters of commercial navigation receivers, and the analysis and prediction of the overall technological evolution of key parameters, their performance, and their trends. In this paper the results of this study regarding various key technological performance parameters which have been identified for each component of a commercial navigation receiver (e.g., antenna, embedded resources, in-sensor signal processing, aided system technology, advanced solution algorithms, etc.) are examined, and their actual implementation in commercial products is assessed and analyzed for each market segment. A short summary of some of the technical parameters which have been analyzed in this study and relevant for current and future receiver technology are presented in the paragraphs below. More information on the technical aspects and their evolution can be found in the paper. (1) Antennas – The detailed technical parameters for the antenna part of commercial navigation receivers are analyzed in terms of number of frequencies, reception bandwidth, gain, multipath rejection capability, active or passive, phase center stability, and form factor. This is especially of interest for mass market receivers for which the antenna size and weight is crucial. (2) Embedded resources - The detailed technical parameters for the embedded resources of commercial navigation receivers are analyzed in terms of number of frequencies and systems, RF front-end / system, RFI and jamming mitigation, down-conversion, sampling, component type, reconfigurability, power consumption, data storage, input/output standards, connectivity, and form factor. It is expected that most of GNSS receivers will be equipped with multicore microprocessor units to effectively implement multi-frequency GNSS, high-precision PVT solution, and the functional connectivity between GNSS and local communication methods (e.g. GNSS/Wi-Fi/DVB/BT, etc.) in the near future. (3) In-sensor signal processing techniques – The detailed technical parameters for the in-sensor signal processing techniques of commercial navigation receivers are analyzed in terms of acquisition and tracking performance, accuracy, update rate, multipath and RFI mitigation performance, tracking and measurement robustness, and the form factor. It was observed in the study that the current state-of-the art fast acquisition technology of commercial navigation receivers currently available in the market provides a TTFF within 1 second for a hot start and 30 seconds for a cold start with -161 to -165 dBm of sensitivity. During the study it was observed that A-GNSS technique which is able to improve the TTFF and the sensitivity of a receiver is becoming almost standard for mobile users. Also inertial sensor aiding used additionally to GNSS to improve the robustness and reliability of the position solution no longer is limited to the traditional areas of application like e.g. aviation but also to automotive applications and indoor navigation. Additionally to the survey of the key technology of current and future receiver components a patent study has been carried out within the scope of the SurRex-project. In the paper an overview of current key patents will be given regarding the particular key technologies. Current or pending patents provide information about the probable evolution of different key technologies and the future trends in satellite navigation. Relevant patents were examined with respect to their impact on the future GNSS market and the novelty of the patented technologies. Especially in the patent survey, diverging trends between low-end mass market and high-end receiver market have been identified. Finally the paper will present an outlook of expected future trends of commercial navigation receivers in terms of technology and performance based on the results obtained within the study of key technology and patents. It could be observed that this evolution is related to the growing number of GNSS and satellites, the advancing signal properties, the improved service conditions, and rapid improvement in terms of electronic technology. Especially the increased usage of location-based services based on mass-market receivers is associated with the extreme growth of the GNSS industry even during the recession in 2009. New mobile services and technologies related to emergency, health-care, and social networking service extend the area of application for positioning and navigation. This also means that the specification of requirements for each GNSS application is necessary to satisfy the purpose of this application. The identification of these requirements also have been part of this survey. The paper will provide a summary of the main results of this survey including a prediction of possible overall technological trends, and in particular the expected trends of the identified key technologies and the corresponding performance parameters for each component of commercial navigation receivers as well as for each single market segment. Another topic will be the discussion of the effects of a wider bandwidth for signals of upcoming GNSS, like the Galileo E5, on the evolution of receivers for each market segment compared to GPS. Finally, the future trends for each market segment regarding the technology are described and the trends and demands for the different market segments are summarized.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 26th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GNSS+ 2013) September 16 - 20, 2013 Nashville Convention Center, Nashville, Tennessee Nashville, TN
Pages:	197 - 204
Cite this article:	Won, J-H., Ko, S-J., Krämer, I., "GNSS Receiver Technology Trends," Proceedings of the 26th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GNSS+ 2013), Nashville, TN, September 2013, pp. 197-204.
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