• Lowest cost receiver implementation
• Most flexible receiver architecture
• Easy upgradeability to new GNSS systems and features
• Lowest power consumption of any GNSS receiver architecture
• Highest sensitivity due to long integration times enabling indoor acquisition
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GNSS industry has been talking for almost a decade about software based GNSS receivers. Until now the availability of suitable processor platforms has been the bottleneck for gaining mass market penetration. Today however any SmartPhone, Tablet, Ultrabook and equivalent has adequate CPU horsepower to address the needs of Software based receiver that meets the performance of a traditional baseband solution.
The increasing amount of satellite systems increases the complexity, and hence the baseband silicon area of multi-constellation receivers capable of receiving signals from many GNSS systems in parallel. With a suitable RF Front-end a Software based receiver, that uses many GNSS systems, can be implemented without increasing the silicon area. A traditional GNSS receiver comprising radio and baseband will always be more expensive than a pure software solution. This is true for both stand-alone GNSS receivers and Measurement Front ends that mainly uses the Host CPU for navigation calculation but still has a baseband for the signal acquisition and correlation. In a software based GNSS receiver all signal processing is done in software including signal acquisition, correlation, tracking and navigation. In many cases the up-selling opportunity created by a software based solution can cut the BoM to half per customer.
A software based receiver is also capable of utilizing new GNSS signals like Galileo, QZSS and Beidou-2 much faster than a baseband receiver that requires a re-spin of the baseband silicon. A software based receiver can also be upgraded with an OTA upgrade easily with new algorithms and firmware when needed without having to go through lengthy silicon re-design processes. OTA upgradeability enables also new revenue generation strategies as new features can be purchased by the end user.
A software based receiver enables also applications that are not possible with traditional baseband solutions like indoor acquisition at -175dBm with extreme integration times, 5mJ/fix power consumption in a Push-To-Fix RF capture and post-processing mode.
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