Ensuring Excellent Quality in High Volume Low Cost GPS Receiver Modules

G. A. zur Bonsen, A. Thiel, D. Ammann and J.-P. Wyss

Abstract:	Manufacturing high quantities of low cost GPS receivers in mass production with minimum production costs and high throughput is a particular challenge for the GPS industry. GPS receivers are required to exhibit excellent quality of craftsmanship, production quality constancy over time, full functionality and enduring reliability. This can only be achieved with a reliable mass production line combined with quality aspects which are addressed in this paper: (1) Qualification of the hardware and production process, (2) providing an effective production test with high coverage and throughput, and (3) qualification of the firmware to confirm the effective interaction of the hardware and on-chip software to provide the specified. This paper describes how u-blox, a manufacturer of high volume GPS receivers, handles these problems with its line of current GPS products, with the goal to meet high quality standards and to help offload basic GPS-related development and testing work otherwise done by the Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs).
Published in:	Proceedings of the 15th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GPS 2002) September 24 - 27, 2002 Oregon Convention Center Portland, OR
Pages:	1679 - 1688
Cite this article:	Bonsen, G. A. zur, Thiel, A., Ammann, D., Wyss, J.-P., "Ensuring Excellent Quality in High Volume Low Cost GPS Receiver Modules," Proceedings of the 15th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GPS 2002), Portland, OR, September 2002, pp. 1679-1688.
Full Paper:	ION Members/Non-Members: 1 Download Credit Sign In