LabVIEW toolkit simplifies test systems for GPS receivers

Leonardo Bonanomi, test solutions manager for Services for Electronic Manufacturing (SEM), comments: "The GPS Toolkit is a highly capable, easy-to-use solution for simulating a GPS environment, which gives us complete control of the simulated receiver position. This toolkit, together with NI TestStand and NI LabVIEW software, helps us easily build flexible and scalable automated test systems for GPS receivers."

With the new toolkit, engineers can use a combination of simulated and recorded GPS waveforms as a comprehensive, low-cost route to receiver design validation and verification. By recording live GPS signals off the air with an NI PXI-5661 RF vector signal analyser and an NI PXI-5690 pre-amplifier (low-noise amplifier), engineers can capture GPS signals with natural impairments - such that a receiver would observe in the real world. They can also generate both simulated and recorded signals with the NI PXIe-5672 RF vector signal generator by continuously streaming GPS waveforms from hard disk. With a 2TB redundant array of inexpensive disks (RAID) hard drive option, engineers can generate up to 12.5 minutes of non-repeating simulated waveform or 25 hours of continuous recorded GPS signal to test how the receiver responds to a broad range of circumstances.

Engineers can combine the GPS Toolkit with the NI Modulation Toolkit for LabVIEW, NI TestStand test management software and PXI RF modular instrumentation for a complete low-cost production test system. Because PXI modular instrumentation is purely software-defined, the same PXI system can test wireless devices that use other standards such as RDS, WiFi, GSM, WCDMA, Bluetooth and DVB. PXI measurement systems offer lower cost, greater flexibility and higher throughput compared with traditional instrumentation in production test applications. For multi-protocol test, the cost saving from using PXI is even greater.

To learn more about the GPS Toolkit for LabVIEW, visit sine.ni.com/nips/cds/view/p/lang/en/nid/204980. Alternatively, use the form on this page to request a callback or more information.