Integrated DGPS Antenna Assembly for Portable Navigation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing DGPS systems are bulky, unreliable, and expensive due to multiple separate components connected via cables, making them difficult to move and maintain, especially for portable applications where durability and accuracy are crucial.
Innovation Solution
A portable DGPS navigation apparatus is designed with a combined receiver assembly and DGPS antenna assembly, featuring a GNSS antenna, receiver, and modem, connected via threaded inserts and RF connectors to minimize interference and ensure stability, allowing for a single, durable, and accurate multiband antenna system.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If multiple separate component units are used in DGPS systems, then functional separation and specialized operation are achieved, but the system becomes bulky, difficult to move, and unreliable due to cables and connectors
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the GPS antenna, DGPS antenna, battery, display processor, and GPS processor into a single integrated handheld unit. This merging eliminates the need for multiple separate component units connected via cables, directly resolving the technical contradiction by improving reliability while reducing device complexity. The integration ensures stable electrical connections without vulnerable cable interfaces.
Solution Approach 2:
The handheld unit serves multiple functions simultaneously: it acts as both a GPS receiver and a DGPS receiver, includes display and processing capabilities, and provides power through an integrated battery. This multi-functionality allows a single device to replace multiple specialized units, reducing the number of components while maintaining all necessary functions.
2Ease of manufacture
If multiple separate units are connected via cables, then functional modularity is achieved, but the connections become bulky, expensive, and prone to breakage
Solution Approach 1:
By integrating all components into a single handheld unit, the patent eliminates the need for external cables and connectors. This directly reduces manufacturing costs by removing expensive cable assemblies and simplifies the overall device structure, resolving the contradiction between ease of manufacture and device complexity.
3Measurement precision
If DGPS antenna and GPS antenna are separate units, then signal reception can be optimized independently, but the system becomes less portable and more difficult to position
Solution Approach 1:
The patent integrates both the GPS antenna and DGPS antenna within the same handheld unit, maintaining their distinct functions while improving portability. The user can easily position the single unit to achieve direct line of sight to GPS satellites, eliminating the difficulty of positioning multiple separate antenna units while preserving positioning accuracy through proper antenna design and placement.
4Adaptability or versatility
If radio relay units use multiple separate components, then signal relay functionality is achieved, but the system becomes bulky and difficult to maintain
Solution Approach 1:
The patent integrates the radio relay functionality directly into the handheld unit, combining the transceiver, antenna, and processing components into a single maintainable device. This eliminates the need for multiple separate radio relay components, making the system easier to maintain while preserving signal relay capability for extending GPS coverage to remote locations.
Data Source
AI summary
A portable DGPS navigation apparatus is provided. The apparatus includes a receiver assembly and a DGPS antenna assembly. The receiver assembly includes a GNSS antenna, a GNSS receiver, and a DGPS modem. The DGPS antenna assembly includes a DGPS antenna; a top connector for coupling the DGPS antenna assembly to the receiver assembly such that the receiver assembly and DGPS antenna assembly are aligned with a geodetic pole, and a bottom connecter.