Global navigation satellite system receiver system with radio frequency hardware component

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9835729-B2
Application number	US-201414304822-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 13, 2014
Priority date	Dec 28, 2012
Publication date	Dec 5, 2017
Grant date	Dec 5, 2017

Abstract

A stand-alone radio frequency (RF) hardware component comprises first and second antennas, a digitizer, a serializer, and a serial output. The first antenna receives, over-the-air, a first analog Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) signal in a first frequency band. The second antenna receives, over-the-air, at least a second analog GNSS signal in a second frequency band, wherein the first frequency band and the second frequency band are separate and distinct. The digitizer digitizes the first analog GNSS signal into a first digitalized GNSS signal and digitizes the second analog GNSS signal into a second digitized GNSS signal. The serializer serializes the digitized GNSS signals into a serialized output signal. The serial output communicatively couples the digitized GNSS signals, as the serialized output signal, directly from the RF hardware component to a communication device that is removably couplable with the stand-alone RF hardware component.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A stand-alone radio frequency hardware component comprising:
a first antenna configured for receiving, over-the-air, a first analog Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) signal in a first frequency band;
a second antenna configured for receiving, over-the-air, at least a second analog GNSS signal in a second frequency band, wherein said first frequency band and said second frequency band are separate and distinct;
a digitizer configured for digitizing said first analog GNSS signal into a first digitalized GNSS signal and for digitizing said second analog GNSS signal into a second digitized GNSS signal;
a serializer configured for serializing said digitized GNSS signals into a serialized output signal; and
a serial output configured for communicatively coupling said digitized GNSS signals, as said serialized output signal, directly from said radio frequency hardware component to a communication device that is removably couplable with said stand-alone radio frequency hardware component.

2. The stand-alone radio frequency hardware component of claim 1 , wherein said digitizer comprises:
a first Radio Frequency Integrated Circuit (RFIC) configured for digitizing said first analog GNSS signal into said first digital signal; and
a second RFIC configured for digitizing said at least said second analog GNSS signal into said second digital signal.

3. The stand-alone radio frequency hardware component of claim 1 , wherein at least one of said first analog GNSS signal and said second analog GNSS signal is an L 2 C Global Positioning System (GPS) signal and the other of said first analog GNSS signal and said second analog GNSS signal is an L 1 GPS signal.

4. The stand-alone radio frequency hardware component of claim 3 , wherein:
said stand-alone radio frequency hardware component is further configured for receiving, over-the-air, an analog L 1 Galileo signal in said second frequency band; and
said digitizer is further configured for digitizing said analog L 1 Galileo signal into a third digitalized GNSS signal.

5. The stand-alone radio frequency hardware component of claim 3 , further comprising:
said stand-alone radio frequency hardware component is further configured for receiving, over-the-air, an analog L 1 BeiDou signal in said second frequency band; and
said digitizer is further configured for digitizing said analog L 1 BeiDou signal into a third digitalized GNSS signal.

6. The stand-alone radio frequency hardware component of claim 3 , further comprising:
said stand-alone radio frequency hardware component is further configured for receiving, over-the-air, an analog L 1 Glonass signal in said second frequency band; and
said digitizer is further configured for digitizing said analog L 1 Glonass signal into a third digitalized GNSS signal.

7. The stand-alone radio frequency hardware component of claim 3 , further comprising:
a third antenna configured for receiving, over-the-air, an analog L 1 pseudolite signal in said second frequency band, and wherein said digitizer is further configured for digitizing said analog L 1 pseudo lite signal into a third digitalized GNSS signal.

8. The stand-alone radio frequency hardware component of claim 3 , further comprising:
a third antenna configured for receiving, over-the-air, an analog Satellite Based Augmentation System (SBAS) signal, and wherein said digitizer is further configured for digitizing said analog SBAS signal into a digitalized signal.

9. The stand-alone radio frequency hardware component of claim 3 , further comprising:
a third antenna configured for receiving, an analog L 5 GPS signal in a third frequency band that is separate and distinct from said first frequency band and from said second frequency band, and wherein said digitizer is further configured for digitizing said analog L 5 GPS signal into a third digitalized GNSS signal.

10. A Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receiver system comprising:
a radio frequency hardware component comprising:
a first antenna configured for receiving, over-the-air, a first analog GNSS signal in a first frequency band;
a second antenna configured for receiving, over-the-air, at least a second analog GNSS signal in a second frequency band, wherein said first frequency band and said second frequency band are separate and distinct;
a digitizer configured for digitizing said first analog GNSS signal into a first digitalized GNSS signal and for digitizing said second analog GNSS signal into a second digitized GNSS signal; and

a communication device configured to receive said digitized GNSS signals via a physical coupling with said radio frequency hardware component, said communication device comprising:
an internal GNSS receiver chipset; and
a processor, located outside of said internal GNSS receiver chipset, said processor configured for operating a software defined GNSS receiver to determine a position using at least first information obtained by said processor from said first digitized GNSS signal and second information obtained by said processor from said second digitized GNSS signal.

11. The GNSS receiver system of claim 10 , wherein said radio frequency hardware component further comprises:
a serializer configured for serializing said digitized GNSS signals into a serialized output signal; and
wherein said radio frequency hardware component comprises a stand-alone radio frequency hardware component disposed proximate to and removably coupled with said communication device and is configured for communicatively coupling said digitized GNSS signals, as said serialized output signal, directly from said stand-alone radio frequency hardware component to said communication device via said physical coupling.

12. The GNSS receiver system of claim 10 , wherein said digitizer comprises:
a first Radio Frequency Integrated Circuit (RFIC) configured for digitizing said first analog GNSS signal into said first digital signal; and
a second RFIC configured for digitizing said at least said second analog GNSS signal into said second digital signal.

13. The GNSS receiver system of claim 10 , wherein at least one of said first analog GNSS signal and said second analog GNSS signal is an L 2 C Global Positioning System (GPS) signal and the other of said first analog GNSS signal and said second analog GNSS signal is an L 1 GPS signal.

14. The GNSS receiver system of claim 13 , wherein:
said radio frequency hardware component is further configured for receiving, over-the-air, an analog L 1 Galileo signal in said second frequency band; and
said digitizer is further configured for digitizing said analog L 1 Galileo signal into a third digitalized GNSS signal.

15. The GNSS receiver system of claim 13 , wherein:
said radio frequency hardware component is further configured for receiving, over-the-air, an analog L 1 BeiDou signal; and
said digitizer is further configured for digitizing said analog L 1 BeiDou signal into a third digitalized GNSS signal.

16. The GNSS receiver system of claim 13 , wherein:
said radio frequency hardware component is further configured for receiving, over-the-air, an analog L 1 Glonass signal; and
said digitizer is further configured for digitizing said analog L 1 Glonass signal into a third digitalized GNSS signal.

17. The GNSS receiver system of claim 13 , wherein:
said radio frequency hardware component is further configured for receiving, over-the-air, an analog L 1 pseudolite signal; and
said digitizer is further configured for digitizing said analog L 1 pseudolite signal into

Assignees

• Trimble Inc

Inventors

• Wallace Gregory Craig
• Loomis Peter Van Wyck
• Weisenburger Shawn D
• Janky James M

Classifications

• G01S19/43 Primary

  using carrier phase measurements, e.g. kinematic positioning; using long or short baseline interferometry · CPC title

• G01S19/41

  Differential correction, e.g. DGPS [differential GPS] · CPC title