Averna has announced that its Universal Receiver Tester (URT) NAVigation Advanced SIMulator (NAVASIM) now includes the GeoBase toolkit from Telogis.

Averna has announced that its Universal Receiver Tester (URT) NAVigation Advanced SIMulator (NAVASIM) now includes the GeoBase toolkit from Telogis.

NAVASIM enables GPS-device OEMs to create complex driving scenarios using a point-and-click interface and a dynamic vehicle model with built-in Tele Atlas digital maps. With the addition of the Telogis GeoBase toolkit, NAVASIM is now able to generate 100 waypoints per second from Tele Atlas map data, according to Averna. This data feeds NAVASIM’s GPS constellation simulator, enabling testers to quickly create high-accuracy trajectories to better emulate all aspects of the driving experience.

Using Telogis GeoBase, Averna’s enhanced NAVASIM provides smartphone, personal navigation device (PND), and in-vehicle navigation system manufacturers and designers with routing functionality that integrates advanced data, including RDS-TMC (traffic messaging). This provides a route matrix the GPS receiver designers can use to solve complex routing problems, including spatial optimization and the integration of custom rules.

“GeoBase provides Averna’s URT/NAVASIM solution with the next-generation of GPS navigation capabilities,” said Newth Morris, president of Telogis GeoBase. “Our technology enables Averna’s OEM customers to create complex and realistic trajectories, simulate the GPS signals received and track the path plotted by GeoBase.”

“The integration of Telogis GeoBase into NAVASIM will benefit GPS-device makers in many ways,” stated Dominique Fortin, director of RF Products at Averna. “By allowing them to test GPS and RDS-TMC signals simultaneously in their labs, it will help save significant time and resources normally used for costly test drives. And by accelerating testing, OEMs will be able to get their navigation devices to market faster, which will boost their competitiveness.”

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TÜV SÜD, an independent third-party certifier, has awarded IFEN GmbH an official certificate affirming the conformance of IFEN’s NavX-NCS GNSS RF navigation constellation simulator with the Galileo Open Signal Signal-in-Space Interface Control Document (OS SIS ICD).

TÜV SÜD, an independent third-party certifier, has awarded IFEN GmbH an official certificate affirming the conformance of IFEN’s NavX-NCS GNSS RF navigation constellation simulator with the Galileo Open Signal Signal-in-Space Interface Control Document (OS SIS ICD).

The certification was validated in the GNSS laboratory of the independent company, NavCert GmbH and of the European Space Agency (ESA). It confirms the high precision GNSS signal generation quality of the NavX-NCS simulator as well as its accurate replication of the signal characteristics of the OS SIS ICD, which GNSS receiver designers and others depend on to build user equipment.

“We were impressed by the overall quality of the [NavX-NCS] system to fulfill all relevant requirements,” said Martin Grzebellus, NavCert’s managing director. NavCert tested the simulator according to the specifications of four international technical standards: PPP 80018:2008, EN 61010:2002, IEC 60297-1:1986, and EN 60417-2000.

Based in Poing, Germany, IFEN offers several classes of GNSS RF constellation signal generators, with the NavX-NCS representing the most flexible for multi-GNSS constellations. It features up to 108 signal channels and 9 L-band frequencies, enabling GPS, Galileo, GLONASS, and QZSS (Japan’s Quasi-Zenith Satellite System) signals to be simulated simultaneously.

As part of the TÜV SÜD group, NavCert offers support for the developing and marketing of GNSS products and services, including testing, certification, and related consultancy for consumer products, safety-critical components, and products and systems for Galileo and EGNOS (European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service).

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Spirent Communications has launched its GSS6700 Multi-GNSS Constellation Simulator with test test capability GPS, GLONASS, and the planned European Galileo system.

Spirent Communications has launched its GSS6700 Multi-GNSS Constellation Simulator with test test capability GPS, GLONASS, and the planned European Galileo system.

The GSS6700 is available with a range of software capabilities designed for differing test requirements. SimGEN is Spirent’s flexible simulator software suite and would typically be used in technology development and R&D applications. For environments in which repeat testing using the same test cases is needed — for example verification testing, Spirent offers SimREPLAY software, which can be specified with web-based or on-board limited scenario-generation capability.

In addition to GPS, GLONASS, and Galileo commercial signals, the GSS6700 supports augmentation system and interference testing. Space Based Augmentation System (SBAS) support for such systems as the GPS Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS) or The European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS). is a standard offering.

Options include dynamic and flexible interference signal generation, vehicle sensor emulation coherent with GNSS, and Local Area Augmentation System (LAAS) support.

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UK electronics design and manufacturer Racelogic has released new scenario-generation software, SatGen, intended to simplify creating custom scenarios for the company’s LabSat GPS Simulator.

According to Racelogic, the software can simulate user-defined dynamic GPS scenarios from scratch anywhere in the world.

UK electronics design and manufacturer Racelogic has released new scenario-generation software, SatGen, intended to simplify creating custom scenarios for the company’s LabSat GPS Simulator.

According to Racelogic, the software can simulate user-defined dynamic GPS scenarios from scratch anywhere in the world.

Priced at £9,000 (US$14,700), the SatGen software is designed for use with Racelogic’s new LabSat GPS RF simulator, which can replay real-world data, reproducing common conditions such as satellite obstructions and atmospheric effects. SatGen enable users to generate customized scenarios early in GPS device development to cover specific testing requirements.

The new software enables receiver designers and developers of other GPS-featured OEM, consumer, and professional products to use an NMEA file pre-recorded from a GPS receiver, or specify a scenario manually from user-defined criteria, including position, velocity, and heading.

It can also generate a scenario with motion data saved from a GPS enabled device, such as Racelogic’s VBOX. The .vbo file recorded on the VBOX can be imported into SatGen, where the SatGen software then automatically generates an NMEA file that is converted into a binary file.

Alternatively, if users are interested in a particular route, they can sketch an outline of the path in Google Earth and the SatGen software will fill in the gaps, smoothing out sharp corners and setting a realistic velocity profile.

According to the company, this “Add Path” tool allows users to define a complex route through a foreign city in a matter of minutes. Once created, it’s possible to use SatGen scenarios on any number of LabSat simulators.

Stephen Jenkins, LabSat project manager, offers an example of how SatGen could be used. “If your company is based in the USA, but you sell your GPS products internationally, SatGen will enable you to create a test scenario for virtually any location,” Jenkins says. “You can program a drive round Tokyo, or a route through Stuttgart for example, and check that your design performs as required, without needing to leave the office.”

Minimum system requirements include a Microsoft Windows XP operating system, 1.8 GHz or greater processor, 2 GB free RAM, 8x DVD+/-RW ROM Drive, and a USB 2.0 x 1 port with at least a 2.046 Mbytes per second transfer rate.

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u-blox AG has selected the NavX-NCS, a multi-constellation and multi-frequency GNSS RF navigation constellation simulator from IFEN GmbH, as the Galileo reference for its receiver development and testing.

NavX-NCS is the first product in a new generation of GNSS products from IFEN, based in Poing, Germany. The NavX-NCS currently supports all present and future Galileo and GPS frequencies (E1/L1, L2C, E5ab/L5, and E6). With its forthcoming GLONASS L1 capabilities, the NavX-NCS will cover Galileo, GPS, and GLONASS signals in a single GNSS laboratory test equipment.

u-blox, a fabless semiconductor positioning solutions provider based in Thalwil, Switzerland, launched its first GPS and Galileo receiver for mass market applications in 2006. It chose the NavX-NCS to support its efforts to further expand its product portfolio of receiver chips and modules.

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Spirent Communications plc has announced that its UMTS Location Test System (ULTS)  is now able to validate all assisted-GPS (AGPS) test standards by providing a single test platform that runs all the validated A-GPS test cases required by the Global Certification Forum (GCF) and the PCS Type Certification Review Board (PTCRB).

With the recent validations of the 3GPP TS 51.010 GSM Signalling Test Cases, Spirent ULTS now supports validated WCDMA and GSM test cases from 3GPP Standards TS 34.171, TS34.123 and TS 51.010, as well as the OMA SUPL V1.0 ETS.

In addition to conformance testing, the Spirent ULTS offers users the possibility to test the AGPS RF performance in challenging simulated environments, such as urban canyons and deep indoors. The test system incorporates a 12-channel GPS simulator based on technology developed by Spirent Positioning.

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An East Cost Conference will be held in Washington, D.C., March 18–19, and a West Coast Conference will follow in Anaheim, California, on March 24–25. Seats are limited to maintain the intimacy of the instruction and equipment usage.

Spirent Federal Systems, a leading provider of GPS/GNSS test and simulation systems, has announced its 2009 GPS Training Conference schedule, which will include identical events on two coasts.

An East Cost Conference will be held in Washington, D.C., March 18–19, and a West Coast Conference will follow in Anaheim, California, on March 24–25. Seats are limited to maintain the intimacy of the instruction and equipment usage.

Ellen Hall, president of Spirent Federal, says the company initiated the two-conference schedule in order to increase the amount of one-on-one tutoring available and to reduce travel time for participants by giving them an option of choosing the conference nearest them.

The conference agendas will feature training presentations and workshops on actual equipment covering the following topics:
• GPS/GNSS simulation capabilities, ranging from basic to advanced applications
• Simulating representative environmental conditions
• Remote control of simulations
• Testing integrated GPS and inertial systems
• Galileo and GLONASS testing

Each conference will include a Secure Session open to U.S. citizens only.

The fee of $250 includes meals, an evening social and dinner, parking, and materials for the two days.

Online registration is available at <www.spirentfederal.com/GPS/Training>.

Headquartered in Yorba Linda, California, Spirent Federal was formed in July 2001 by Spirent Communications as a wholly owned subsidiary and United States proxy company to market and sell products with value-added features in North and South America.

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Simulators from CAST Navigation, Billerica, Massachusetts USA, that are being used in government and military labs around the world will now be made available to commercial markets, the company has announced.

Simulators from CAST Navigation, Billerica, Massachusetts USA, that are being used in government and military labs around the world will now be made available to commercial markets, the company has announced.

Based on the same CAST Nav digital architecture enabling full control of the GPS signal spectrum, the VIP line of commercial GPS simulators will share the same quality and flexibility as the company’s government/military-oriented systems, according to CAST’s President Ray Simeon.

VIP simulators are capable of producing modernized GPS civilian signals such as L2C, L5-I, L5-Q, SBAS and M-noise as well as the recently published civilian signals, L1C-I and L1C-Q. The VIP simulator is a PC-based system that is controlled via Ethernet using CAST’s Windows interface software for remotely controlling simulations.

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