Spirent Communications, now part of Keysight Technologies, has introduced a new GNSS test tool designed to close the long-standing gap between field data collection and laboratory simulation in PNT testing.
The new solution, SimXTRACT, allows engineers to decompose real-world RF recordings into discrete signal components and replay them as fully controllable scenarios on Spirent simulators.
Positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) developers have traditionally been forced to choose between RF record-and-playback on one side and pure lab simulation on the other. Record-and-playback captures all the richness of the real world, but offers limited control and repeatability. Simulation provides precise control over parameters and repeatability for regression and corner-case testing, but can lack the full complexity of live-sky environments. Spirent positions SimXTRACT as a way to fuse these two approaches.
According to the company, SimXTRACT takes signals captured in the field using Spirent record-and-playback devices and performs complex signal decomposition, breaking each received signal into separate line-of-sight and multipath ray paths. Metadata such as Doppler offset, code error, power level, and angle of arrival (AoA) is retained. That decomposed representation is then converted into simulator drive files that can be loaded into Spirent GNSS simulators as fully controllable, repeatable scenarios.
“SimXTRACT revolutionizes how you can test positioning solutions. By combining real-world insights with lab-based control and repeatability, our customers will no longer have to compromise on how they test in this fast-moving technology area,” said Peter Terry-Brown, Divisional CEO of Spirent’s Positioning business, in the announcement. “SimXTRACT ensures customers get the best of both worlds, with enhanced realism delivering more accurate results, quicker issue resolution, and faster time to market.”
By reducing the amount of time and number of trips required for field data collection, Spirent says users can cut the cost and complexity of scenario capture and generation while still working with high-fidelity, real-world conditions. Developers can also analyze signal recordings, search for specific types of events or environments, and then recreate those conditions in the lab to focus troubleshooting or performance characterization.
Spirent expects SimXTRACT to be used across a broad set of sectors where high-precision PNT is critical, including automotive, chipsets, consumer devices, defense and critical infrastructure. Terry-Brown frames the tool as a way to “bring the real-world environment into every stage of your product realization process,” with the goal of improving product quality while saving time and money.
