GNSS software-defined receiver: Difference between revisions

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{{Comparison|date=September 2013}}

{{distinguish|GNSS navigation software}}

A '''software GNSS receiver''' is a [[Global navigation satellite system|GNSS]] receiver that has been designed and implemented following the philosophy of [[Software-defined radio]].

A GNSS receiver is an electronic device that receives and digitally processes the signals from a GNSS satellite constellation in order to provide position, velocity and time (of the receiver).

There are several ways to implement a [[GNSS]] (GPS) receiver:

A GNSS receiver, in general, is an electronic device that receives and digitally processes the signals from a GNSS satellite constellation in order to provide position, velocity and time (of the receiver).

The traditional one is in hardware; a hardware GNSS receiver is conceived as a dedicated chip (i.e., application specific integrated circuits, or ASICs) that has been designed and built (from the very beginning) with the only purpose of being a GNSS receiver. The innovative one is in software. A software GNSS receiver is a GNSS receiver that has been designed and implemented as software running on standard [[Digital signal processor|DSP]] or [[CPU]], following the philosophy of Software-defined radio . Another way is a combination of the hardware and the software solutions

GNSS receivers have been traditionally implemented in hardware: a ''hardware GNSS receiver'' is conceived as a dedicated chip that have been designed and built (from the very beginning) with the only purpose of being a GNSS receiver.

In a software GNSS receiver, all digital processing is performed by a general purpose [[microprocessor]]. In this approach, a small amount of inexpensive hardware is still needed, known as the ''[[RF front end|frontend]]'', that digitizes the signal from the satellites. The microprocessor can then work on this ''raw'' digital stream to implement the GNSS functionality.

== Hardware vs. software GNSS receivers==

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* Under some assumptions, Software GNSS receivers can be more profitable for some applications, as long as sufficient computational power is available (and can be shared among multiple applications). For example, the microprocessor of a [[smartphone]] can be used to provide GNSS navigation with the only need of including a frontend (instead of a full, more expensive, hardware receiver).

Currently, most of the GNSS receiver market is still ''hardware''. However, there already existsexist operational solutions based on the software approach able to run on low-cost microprocessors. Software GNSS receivers are expected to increase their market share or even take over in the near future, following the development of the computational capabilities of the microprocessors ([[Moore's law]]).

== Comparison of implementations ==