Software-defined GPS receivers and distributed positioning system
First Claim
1. A software-defined global positioning system (GPS) receiver, comprising:
- a down converter circuit configured to receive GPS satellite signals and to down convert a frequency of received GPS satellite signals, wherein down-converted GPS satellite signals are generated when the down converter receives the GPS satellite signals;
an analog-to-digital converter circuit connected to the down converter circuit, wherein the analog-to-digital converter circuit is configured to sample and digitize the down-converted GPS satellite signals, wherein digitized down-converted GPS satellite signals are generated when the analog-to-digital converter circuit samples and digitizes the down-converted GPS satellite signals;
a processor connected to the analog-to-digital converter circuit; and
a memory connected to the processor, wherein the memory stores an operating environment architecture and an application program that, when executed by the processor, processes the digitized down-converted GPS satellite signals to compute navigation, wherein the operating environment architecture is based on object-oriented methodology, and wherein the operating environment architecture is compliant with a standard open architecture framework.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A software-defined GPS receiver includes a hardware-oriented front end for down converting and digitizing the signals received from GPS satellites. The GPS signal processing functions, such as acquisition/tracking and navigation computing, can be performed by software running on the receiver central processing unit (CPU), rather than by firmware in a custom hardware device such as an ASIC. The signal processing capabilities of the receiver can therefore be readily reconfigured (e.g., upgraded) to accommodate changes in the satellite signal transmissions. Moreover, by utilizing an operating environment architecture and application programs that are compliant with the Software Communications Architecture (SCA) specification, a distributed positioning system of scalable, portable, and compatible SCA-compliant software-defined GPS receivers can be realized.
13 Citations
28 Claims
-
1. A software-defined global positioning system (GPS) receiver, comprising:
-
a down converter circuit configured to receive GPS satellite signals and to down convert a frequency of received GPS satellite signals, wherein down-converted GPS satellite signals are generated when the down converter receives the GPS satellite signals; an analog-to-digital converter circuit connected to the down converter circuit, wherein the analog-to-digital converter circuit is configured to sample and digitize the down-converted GPS satellite signals, wherein digitized down-converted GPS satellite signals are generated when the analog-to-digital converter circuit samples and digitizes the down-converted GPS satellite signals; a processor connected to the analog-to-digital converter circuit; and a memory connected to the processor, wherein the memory stores an operating environment architecture and an application program that, when executed by the processor, processes the digitized down-converted GPS satellite signals to compute navigation, wherein the operating environment architecture is based on object-oriented methodology, and wherein the operating environment architecture is compliant with a standard open architecture framework. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
-
-
9. A network of navigation information participants in a region, comprising:
-
a software-defined global positioning system (GPS) receiver, comprising; a down converter circuit configured to receive GPS satellite signals and to down convert a frequency of received GPS satellite signals, wherein down-converted GPS satellite signals are generated when the down converter receives the GPS satellite signals; an analog-to-digital converter circuit connected to the down converter circuit, wherein the analog-to-digital converter circuit is configured to sample and digitize the down-converted GPS satellite signals, wherein digitized down-converted GPS satellite signals are generated when the analog-to-digital converter circuit samples and digitizes the down-converted GPS satellite signals; a processor connected to the analog-to-digital converter circuit; and a memory connected to the processor, wherein the memory stores an operating environment architecture and an application program that, when executed by the processor, processes the digitized down-converted GPS satellite signals to compute navigation, wherein the operating environment architecture is based on object-oriented methodology, and wherein the operating environment architecture is compliant with a standard open architecture framework; and a service node, wherein the service node is configured to provide navigation computing services and information sharing services to the software-defined GPS receiver. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
-
-
22. A method comprising:
-
receiving a global positioning system (GPS) satellite signal; down converting a frequency of the GPS satellite signal to a down converted GPS satellite signal; sampling and digitizing the down converted GPS satellite signal, wherein a digitized down converted GPS satellite signal is generated; and processing the digitized down converted GPS satellite signal to compute navigation, wherein processing is performed using only software executing on a processor, wherein the software comprises an operating environment architecture and an application, wherein the operating environment architecture is based on object-oriented methodology that is compliant with a standard open architecture framework, and wherein the application comprises instructions for processing the digitized down converted GPS satellite signal to compute the navigation. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
-
Specification