Spirent adds BeiDou Phase-3 signals to its GNSS RF Constellation Simulators

Spirent Communications, the world leader in BeiDou, GPS and other global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) testing solutions, today announced that BeiDou Phase 3 signals have been added to its GNSS RF constellation simulators. The addition of these new signals to the GSS7000 and GSS9000 simulators follows the launch of the first two Beidou-3 satellites in November 2017.

Phase 3 of the Chinese BeiDou system will extend its coverage from Asia to the whole world and will provide receiver developers and integrators with additional GNSS signals to make positioning, navigation and timing systems more accurate, and help to support new applications, such as autonomous vehicles.

The new signals will use the same carrier frequencies as the GPS and Galileo systems, so chipset manufacturers and device developers will need to test integrated designs to avoid problems caused by confusing data from different GNSS.

“By offering the BeiDou Phase 3 signals, our customers can test their designs well before the system is fully operational, which is expected in 2020,” said Stuart Smith, Lead Product Manager. “With signals already starting to appear, it is important for developers to have test tools that can ensure devices will successfully make use of all GNSS signals.”

BeiDou Phase 3 signals are available immediately on the GSS7000 and GSS9000 simulators, and existing users can obtain the software upgrade by contacting Spirent.