A Flexible Dual frequency Front-end for GPS / GLONASS reception

Antony Joseph, Hans Cappelle, Erik Umans, Bert Gyselinckx and Marc Engels

Abstract:	Receivers for Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) available today fall into three categories, recreation, specialized and military with the complexity of the receiver increasing in that order. Most of these receivers are designed for GPS only applications and there are few receivers which are capable of receiving both the GPS and GLONASS satellites. In this paper we describe the architecture and performance of a dual-frequency RF front-end (FE) for the reception of signals from GPS and GLONASS satellites. Classical FE architecture used for GNSS receivers, mainly employ a double / triple Heterodyne scheme, to translate the L-band carrier to a low Intermediate frequency (IF) or a base-band signal. Our architecture employs a single down-conversion scheme, followed by band-pass sampling, to translate the RF carrier to a low frequency digital IF. This results in a reduction on the number of mixers, oscillators and filters used, as compared to a double / triple Heterodyne scheme. The receiver architecture can be configured for GPS and GLONASS mode of operation and is tunable over both the L1 and L2 frequency bands. Performance is the presence of strong out of band interfering signals is quite robust. A prototype FE using Microwave Monolithic Integrated circuits (MMIC) and discrete components has been designed and built. The main objective in the design of this FE is two folds. One, is to evaluate the functionality of a base-band signal processor designed in-house at IMEC and called the “Advanced GPS / GLONASS ASIC” (AGGA). Secondly to aid in the design of a highly integrated GNSS FE, from an architectural and system point of view.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 13th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GPS 2000) September 19 - 22, 2000 Salt Palace Convention Center Salt Lake City, UT
Pages:	827 - 834
Cite this article:	Joseph, Antony, Cappelle, Hans, Umans, Erik, Gyselinckx, Bert, Engels, Marc, "A Flexible Dual frequency Front-end for GPS / GLONASS reception," Proceedings of the 13th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GPS 2000), Salt Lake City, UT, September 2000, pp. 827-834.
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