Cross-Coupled Position Engine Architecture for GNSS Sensor Integration
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receivers face performance degradation in environments with unavailable, blocked, or attenuated satellite signals, such as indoors and urban canyons, and require redesigning the architecture when changing or adding sensors, limiting flexibility and efficiency.
Innovation Solution
A cross-coupled Position Engine (PE) architecture that integrates a Sensor Engine (SE) and a Position Engine (PE) within the GNSS receiver, allowing for parallel processing of inertial sensor data and satellite data to calculate position and velocity, with a reprogrammable engine that maintains architecture qualification without re-qualifying the fixed architecture, enabling flexible sensor integration and improved performance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If sensor input is provided directly as input to a position engine designed for predetermined sensors, then the position engine can compute position information, but the architecture cannot support changes in sensor type or addition of new sensors without redesigning the entire receiver
Solution Approach 1:
The receiver architecture is segmented into distinct functional modules: a sensor engine that handles sensor data processing independently, and a position engine that receives processed sensor inputs along with satellite data. This segmentation allows the sensor engine to be reconfigured for different sensor types without affecting the position engine's core functionality, thereby enabling sensor flexibility without requiring complete architecture redesign.
Solution Approach 2:
The sensor engine acts as an intermediary between the physical sensors and the position engine. It processes raw sensor data into standardized formats that the position engine can utilize, while shielding the position engine from variations in sensor types. This intermediary layer enables easy sensor replacement or addition by simply configuring the sensor engine without modifying the position engine's architecture.
2Reliability
If a fixed architecture position engine is used for computing position data, then the computation can be performed reliably, but any modification of sensor types or addition of new sensors requires redesigning the architecture
Solution Approach 1:
The architecture introduces dynamic adaptability through the sensor engine, which can be reconfigured to handle different sensor types and configurations. This dynamic component interfaces with the fixed position engine, allowing the system to adapt to new sensor technologies while maintaining the reliability of the core position computation through the stable position engine architecture.
Solution Approach 2:
The sensor engine is designed with universal functionality to process multiple types of sensor inputs (inertial sensors, barometric pressure sensors, GPS sensors, etc.) through a common interface. This multi-functional design allows the fixed position engine to receive standardized processed data regardless of the underlying sensor type, thereby maintaining computational reliability while enabling sensor versatility.
3Reliability
If satellite signals are unavailable, blocked, attenuated or reflected, then the satellite-based navigation system suffers performance degradation, but integrating with sensor-based INS should improve performance
Solution Approach 1:
The system integrates sensor-based Inertial Navigation System (INS) capabilities alongside satellite-based positioning, creating a redundant navigation solution. When satellite signals become unavailable or degraded, the pre-integrated sensor engine can immediately provide position and velocity information through inertial measurement and barometric pressure sensing, cushioning against performance degradation without requiring system reconfiguration.
Solution Approach 2:
The architecture merges satellite-based positioning and sensor-based inertial navigation into a unified system. The sensor engine processes data from inertial sensors, barometric pressure sensors, and GPS sensors, combining multiple sensing modalities to provide robust navigation. This merged architecture ensures that when satellite signals are blocked or attenuated, the integrated sensor system maintains navigation functionality, thereby improving overall reliability against signal availability issues.
Data Source
AI summary
Embodiments of the disclosure provide a cross coupled position engine architecture for sensor integration in a Global Navigation Satellite System. In one embodiment, a data processing engine for processing inertial sensor data within a positioning system receiver is disclosed. The data processing engine includes a first input for receiving the sensor data, and a second input for receiving a positioning data. The data processing system also includes a memory and a processor. The processor of the data processing system is coupled to the memory and to the first and second input. The processor of the data processing system is configured to calculate a net acceleration profile data from the inertial sensor data and from the positioning data. The net acceleration profile data calculated by the processor of the data processing system is used for the Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver to subsequently calculate a position and a velocity data.