October 18, 2011. Spirent Communications plc has announced the addition of new Japanese Quasi Zenith Satellite System (QZSS) simulation capabilities to its GSS6700 Multi-GNSS Constellation Simulator, enhancing the ability to meet the current and future testing needs of GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite Systems) devices.
The GSS6700 supports R&D, integration, and verification testing of GPS, QZSS, GLONASS (Globalnaya Navigazionnaya Sputnikovaya Sistema), and Galileo devices. Spirent brought QZSS simulation to market on its GSS8000 platform in 2009. The new enhancement adds QZSS L1 C/A code support.
“Many commercial receiver developers are realizing the potential of multi-GNSS, first with GPS and GLONASS and now with the addition of QZSS,” said Rahul Gupta, product manager at Spirent’s positioning technology division. “Spirent is committed to helping customers bring commercial QZSS devices to market and this latest software option enables testing of receivers, systems, and applications that will use the QZSS signals.”
Spirent’s live-sky record and playback system, the GSS6400, is also capable of capturing the transmitted QZSS signal along with GPS and GLONASS.
Spirent says record and playback is an increasingly widely-used technique to capture the full richness of multi-GNSS in challenging environments such as urban canyons and indoor/outdoor transitions. Simulation of GPS, QZSS, GLONASS, and Galileo is acknowledged as the best way of testing GNSS receiver, system, and application performance. Only laboratory simulation can ensure controlled, repeatable testing that explores both nominal and off-design conditions with easy access to test data. By following a structured test approach, Spirent’s customers can test multi-GNSS receivers, systems and applications resulting in reduced costs, shorter development times and improved performance.
The GSS6700 supports any combination of GPS, SBAS (satellite-based augmentation system), QZSS, GLONASS, and Galileo L1 signals and provides accurate, repeatable combined multi-GNSS signals and can be configured with up to 12 channels of one constellation only or with multiple constellations. Up to 36 channels are supported with 12 channels of simulation per constellation. The GSS6700 is available with a range of software capability to suit differing test requirements.