PROJECT
Acronym: GUEST
Name: GNSS Unified Enhanced Simulation Tool
Object: To provide the ESA with an evaluation platform allowing to calculate GNSS performance indicators in different environments and scenarios for the characterisation of Galileo (standalone or associated with other GNSS systems).
ESA’s need was to create a robust and high-end simulation platform to analyse different GNSS scenarios and environments, starting from existing tools already capable of providing a part of this functionality of the system.
In this project with ESA, M3 Systems developed the GUEST tool in collaboration with the OKTAL-SE company and GUIDE research laboratory. The GUEST tool (GNSS Unified Enhanced Simulation Tool) is a GNSS simulator specially designed for researchers in the satellite-based navigation and geolocation sector and for development teams and professional testing services. It allows simulation of the entire GNSS chain, from transmission by satellite constellations through to calculation of the navigation solution in the GNSS receiver. The main characteristics of the platform are the ability to reproduce “real-world scenarios”, the environment of the receiver represented in 3D virtual scenes based on OKTAL-SE’s SE-NAV propagator, the possibility to evolve to include future constellations and signals, a customisable and flexible GNSS platform (scenario configuration), in-depth validation, in particular with the help of real measurement data.
M3 Systems was the leader of the project, contributing its expertise in GNSS and GNSS simulation tools, and taking charge of GUEST design, development and validation.
In general, good consistency was obtained between the performance of the GUEST tool and that of the COTS (commercial off-the-shelf) receivers tested (u-blox 6T, Septentrio PolaRx). The GUEST tool, as a high-sensitivity receiver, is capable of acquiring signals with a low C/N0 and can model widely used commercial receivers like the u-blox 6T or Septentrio PolaRx by using a specific configuration file. Situations where the signal is constantly available allow a good level of conformity between the GUEST models and the COTS receivers. Differences are observed for sporadic satellites (i.e. with short reception periods). GUEST can track them, but the COTS units are unable to.
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