Application of the SDR technique to the GNSS world: Improvements to realise a complete receiver

Abstract

Currently, the telecommunications world is moving towards a greater degree of flexibility among different techniques and frequencies. By the way, the implementation via software of functions, generally implemented via hardware, is a crucial step, since software can allow improving reconfigurability, portability and interoperability between different kinds of systems. Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) can be considered, in this context, a significant example. In fact, the GNSS world offers, nowadays, a lot of different systems already in use, in phase of testing or in phase of implementation. A receiver able to work with different systems with no hardware modifications is therefore fundamental. This paper aims at describing the SDR technique, the state of the art of the SDR GNSS receivers and the improvements achieved by us in terms of testing new functions and future ideas.