Overview
The goal of this project was the development of a professional receiver. The introduction of improved and new global and regional systems, augmentation services and test satellites will offer current users unprecedented performances and availability, whilst opening up new markets and opportunities facilitating the prolific use of GNSS technologies.
The PRECISIO project set out to define, design, develop and validate a multi-constellation, multi-frequency GNSS software receiver targeting professional markets and applications.
The PRECISIO software defined radio GNSS receiver will seamlessly embrace the evolving signals, frequencies and constellations. Our multi-constellation, multi-frequency receiver will deliver several key benefits to users and operators of professional high-end GNSS infrastructure. These key benefits include:
- Future proof of equipment against the uncertainty in GNSS signals and services;
- Reconfigurable and upgradeable equipment that can take advantage of future signals and services as they becomes available;
- Longer equipment replenishment rates for installed equipment;
- Allowing for dynamic reconfiguration to an always-optimal processing chain in constrained environments;
- Dramatically reduced receiver costs;
- Potential for shared infrastructure for disparate markets and operations.
In parallel to the technical development, the project also carried out a business analysis and developed an implementation plan for a future software receiver product. PRECISIO is a collaborative project under the European Commission 7th Framework Programme being conducted by a consortium of European organisations.
Funding
Results
At this moment (early February 2013) no final results have been published. The results mentioned therefore reflect a preliminary outcome.
The project has isolated a set of specific markets for fixed infrastructure receivers and has determined a set of initial user requirements. Different markets have been addressed and characterised in terms of:
- the users;
- the current equipment suppliers and the competitive environment within which they operate;
- the anticipated evolution of the market and;
- most importantly, the purchasing behaviour/characteristics of the customer.
The GNSS technical priorities, non-technical considerations and commercial price points have been identified, leading to a set user requirements. The content of this characterisation was enforced and verified through consultations with various knowledgeable agencies and organisations. Individual components have been designed and developed, like: antenna, RF front end and software receiver.
For the antenna, different technologies have been studied in order to identify and analyse the merits and performance of different techniques. Thus improving the quality of the antenna component of the PRECISIO receiver. The final design of the antenna followed a trade-off between antenna alternatives that combine elements in a small array (optimised for omni-directional reception with specific beam shaping to cover low elevations), and alternatives that improve performances against multipath.
PRECISIO requires a flexible RF Front End capable of sampling all RNSS bands (GPS L1/L2C/L5, Galileo E1/E5/E6/GIOVE, GLONASS G1/G2 and COMPASS B1, B2) and providing the digitised data in a form suitable/capable of processing by the software receiver component in real-time.
The software receiver component is critical as it needs to accommodate all GNSS signals and provide optimal processing architectures for BOC, MBOC and ALTBOC modulated signals. A trade-off between the use of general purpose microprocessor-based, DSP-based and FPGA-based architectures has been made to ensure the most appropriate solution has been adopted.
Innovation aspects
The receiver is capable of sampling all RNSS bands. It differs from conventional GNSS receivers, as it only requires a minimum amount of hardware.
Technical Implications
The software receiver component is critical as it needs to accommodate all GNSS signals and provide optimal processing architectures for BOC, MBOC and ALTBOC modulated signals. A trade-off between the use of general purpose microprocessor-based, DSP-based and FPGA-based architectures has been made to ensure the most appropriate solution has been adopted.
Other results
PRECISIO's GNSS receiver meets the challenges of today's users, being:
- sufficiently high-end to meet the needs of users;
- multi-constellation capable;
- multi-frequency capable and
- upgradeable and flexible for new GNSS signals and services.
Strategy targets
Innovating for the future (technology and behaviour): A European Transport Research and Innovation Policy