NI's GPS Simulation Toolkit 1.5 for LabVIEW

AUSTIN, USA: National Instruments has announced the NI GPS Simulation Toolkit 1.5 for LabVIEW, an extension of the graphical system design environment that expands the NI RF PXI platform to provide engineers a cost-efficient, high-performance solution for GPS receiver testing that exceeds the capabilities of traditional box instruments.

The latest version of the GPS Simulation Toolkit gives engineers new satellite simulation features including extended time duration of non-repeating GPS satellite signals and the ability to customize motion profiles for mobile receiver tests.

The GPS Simulation Toolkit 1.5 for LabVIEW offers engineers an easy-to-use graphical API for validating and testing GPS receivers. Using the toolkit, engineers can simulate C/A codes for up to 12 satellites in the L1 band.

The toolkit also features waveform creation tools to specify both the receiver location and velocity, and the ability to create waveforms with up to 24 hours of non-repeating GPS satellite signals, giving engineers a longer period of non-repeating simulation data than other GPS test solutions. This makes it possible for engineers to achieve extended reliability testing and superior control over signal impairments introduced during design verification testing.

The latest version of the toolkit also adds new capabilities for generating custom motion trajectories, so engineers can simulate the signals that GPS receivers capture on specific routes.

The ability to simulate these signals using software-defined instrumentation helps engineers conduct customized and repeatable tests featuring route-specific signals without performing expensive drive tests. Additionally, with the GPS Simulation Toolkit, engineers can adjust individual satellite signal powers during signal generation for dynamic range and scenario-specific tests.

The NI RF PXI platform for GPS simulation and test includes the GPS Simulation Toolkit 1.5 for LabVIEW, NI PXIe-5672/73 vector signal generator, NI 8260 in-chassis RAID hard drive, NI PXIe-8106 dual-core controller and NI PXIe-1062Q eight-slot chassis.

Engineers can store up to 45 hours of simulated GPS signals on the 1 TB NI 8260 in-chassis RAID hard drive and stream the GPS waveforms from disk using the NI PXIe-5672/73 vector signal generators for customized and repeatable GPS receiver testing.