March 29, 2021
Ricardo Verdeguer Moreno
Spirent is addressing the evolving PNT assurance requirements of high-end GNSS technology developers by introducing a series of new capabilities that further increase the performance and flexibility of our enhanced GSS9000 Series GNSS Constellation Simulators.
Building on the significant simulator hardware enhancements delivered in 2019, the new capabilities are designed to meet the exacting test requirements of developers and integrators of mission-critical PNT systems in the defense, space and autonomous vehicle sectors.
The first three capabilities to be launched in 2021 are a 2 kHz hardware and software update rate, extended scenario durations, and advanced GTx interference generation.
1: Unrivaled 2 kHz update rate
Bringing unprecedented accuracy and realism to GNSS signal simulation in high-dynamic scenarios, a new 2 kHz hardware and software update rate capability means that vehicle models are updated more often during simulation, delivering a more accurate trajectory essential for very fast-moving vehicles and operations.
The 2 kHz rate is designed primarily for missile, space mission and drone testing use cases, where rapid acceleration and high-jerk dynamics are essential characteristics of the vehicle under test. GSS9000 Series simulators with this rate activated are capable of updating the body dynamics of the vehicle every 0.5 milliseconds – an industry first.
The faster update rate further improves our low latency for hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) test environments, enabling trajectory and motion data from third-party hardware and software systems to be ingested and processed in real time at faster rates.
2: Extended 65-day scenario duration
A new 65-day duration addresses industry requirements for longer continuous test scenarios. It simplifies testing for complex, multi-week operations such as orbital transfers of space vehicles, allowing the entire mission to be simulated from a single set of initial and boundary conditions.
The new longer duration also simplifies conformance testing with new GNSS interface control documents (ICDs) that include signal codes with durations of up to 62 days.
3: Enhanced GTx capabilities for flexible interference generation
As the GNSS signal environment continues to evolve, more advanced capabilities are required to accurately evaluate receiver vulnerability to radio frequency interference (RFI).
All enhanced GSS9000 Series simulators are capable of generating GNSS signals on 320 channels, allowing interference to be simulated coherently with signals from multiple GNSS constellations on multiple frequencies. Now, new embedded GTx capabilities address signals with a wider spectrum (such as Galileo L5), and enable greater flexibility in defining interference waveforms.
Spirent has enabled this by increasing the carrier offset range from ±5 to ±25 MHz, increasing bandwidth resolution and repetition rates, and adding variable bandwidth to the 3 dB additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) model.
The new capabilities give the user more flexibility and control in defining and running interference scenarios, and ensure that vulnerability testing can stay in step with future evolutions of the signal environment.
All of the new capabilities described above are optionally available with new purchases of the enhanced GSS9000 Series, or as licensed upgrades for existing enhanced GSS9000 users with active support contracts. Further capabilities will be introduced throughout 2021.
Spirent’s Tailored Solutions team are available to work with you to specify, build and configure the enhanced GSS9000 Series simulator solution that best meets your specific PNT assurance needs.
Learn more about the enhanced Spirent GSS9000 GNSS Constellation Simulator
