Software Defined Radio Test Bed for Integrated Communications and Navigation Applications

Accurate positioning is an essential element of next generation Software Defined Radio (SDR) applications such as cognitive radios, telematics, and E-9-1-1, leading to an increased demand for GPS waveforms on SDR platforms. The Software GPS Receiver (SGR) developed in-house at NAVSYS implements functionality largely in software, and uses a reprogrammable hardware platform that can also be configured to perform other communication functions. Further, the sensors compatible with this system can provide GPS, wireless, inertial, and image information for a diverse set of applications. The low cost PC/104based SDR test bed developed at NAVSYS can input communication and GPS signals operating at different frequencies using up to eight Digital Antenna Elements (DAE). A PC/104 compatible Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) card is used to perform high-speed signal processing operations. This paper presents the design of the PC/104-based test bed that can be used for developing and testing GPS and other basic communication waveforms for SDR applications.