Methods and simulation tools for predicting GPS performance in the broad operating environment
View Patent ↗To facilitate GPS hardware selection and evaluate performance of vehicle integrated GPS hardware, including various types of GPS antennas and receivers, within different vehicle operating environments, embodiments of the invention are used to provide a simulator which does not require physical GPS hardware to simulate GPS system performance. Preferably, the simulator randomly generates one or more GPS system link budget variables, within predetermined performance bounds, in order to predict GPS system performance in a specific vehicle operating environment for a given antenna radiation pattern and/or GPS receiver. The simulator employs a Monte Carlo technique to evaluate the GPS system performance based on generated pools of link budget variables.
1. In a computer system for evaluating performance of a satellite service, a non-transitory computer-readable medium having thereon computer-executable instructions for a satellite coverage simulator, the instructions comprising:
instructions for implementing a random number generator for generating a predetermined number of values for one or more variables corresponding to a satellite coverage link budget, the predetermined number of values generated for each one of a plurality of satellites in one or more satellite constellations available for a satellite receiving unit for a predetermined time period, wherein the predetermined time period is less than or equal to two hours;
instructions for generating a satellite antenna radiation pattern comprising a digitized representation of satellite antenna gain associated with the satellite receiving unit; and
instructions for implementing an evaluation module for evaluating the satellite coverage link budget via a Monte Carlo technique based on each one of the predetermined number of values and the satellite antenna radiation pattern.
2. The computer-readable medium of claim 1 wherein the satellite service is a GPS service.
3. The computer-readable medium of claim 1 wherein the one or more variables is selected from the group consisting of: tree loss attenuation, building loss attenuation, cable loss, connector loss, filter loss, antenna noise temperature, ambient noise temperature, LNA gain, LNA noise figure, and GPS satellite transmit power.
4. The computer-readable medium of claim 1 wherein the one or more variables is associated with a satellite receiving unit operating environment.
5. The computer-readable medium of claim 4 wherein the satellite receiving unit operating environment is selected from the group consisting of: an open sky environment, a rural environment, a suburban environment, and an urban environment.
6. The computer-readable medium of claim 1 wherein the predetermined number of values is at least ten thousand values.
7. The computer-readable medium of claim 1 wherein the instructions for implementing an evaluation module include instructions for outputting at least one of:
(a) a histogram representing a distribution of a number of tracked satellites for a satellite receiving unit operating environment; and
(b) a graphical representation of the satellite service performance along one or more drive routes.
8. The computer-readable medium of claim 7 wherein the simulator randomly generates the one or more drive routes.
9. In a computer system for evaluating performance of a satellite service, a method for predicting satellite coverage comprising:
generating a predetermined number of values for one or more variables corresponding to a satellite coverage link budget, the predetermined number of values generated for each one of a plurality of satellites in one or more satellite constellations available for a satellite receiving unit for a predetermined time period, wherein the predetermined time period is less than or equal to two hours;
storing a satellite antenna radiation pattern comprising a digitized representation of satellite antenna gain associated with the satellite receiving unit; and
evaluating the satellite coverage link budget via a Monte Carlo technique based on each one of the predetermined number of values and the stored satellite antenna radiation pattern.
10. The method of claim 9 wherein the satellite service is a GPS service.
11. The method of claim 9 wherein the one or more variables is selected from the group consisting of: tree loss attenuation, building loss attenuation, cable loss, connector loss, filter loss, antenna noise temperature, ambient noise temperature, LNA gain, LNA noise figure, and GPS satellite transmit power.
12. The method of claim 9 wherein the one or more variables is associated with a satellite receiving unit operating environment.
13. The method of claim 12 wherein the satellite receiving unit operating environment is selected from the group consisting of: an open sky environment, a rural environment, a suburban environment, and an urban environment.
14. The method of claim 9 wherein the predetermined number of values is at least ten thousand values.
15. The method of claim 6 wherein the evaluation step further comprises outputting at least one of:
(a) a histogram representing a distribution of a number of tracked satellites for a satellite receiving unit operating environment; and
(b) a graphical representation of the satellite service performance along one or more drive routes.
16. The method of claim 15 further comprising randomly generating the one or more drive routes.
17. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon computer executable instructions to cause the computer to execute a method for predicting satellite coverage, the instructions comprising:
instructions for generating a predetermined number of values for one or more variables corresponding to a satellite coverage link budget, the predetermined number of values generated for each one of a plurality of satellites in one or more satellite constellations available for a satellite receiving unit for a predetermined time period, wherein the predetermined time period is less than or equal to two hours;
instructions for storing a satellite antenna radiation pattern comprising a digitized representation of satellite antenna gain associated with the satellite receiving unit; and
instructions for evaluating the satellite coverage link budget via a Monte Carlo technique based on each one of the predetermined number of values and the stored satellite antenna radiation pattern.
18. The computer-readable medium of claim 17 wherein the one or more variables is selected from the group consisting of: tree loss attenuation, building loss attenuation, cable loss, connector loss, filter loss, antenna noise temperature, ambient noise temperature, LNA gain, LNA noise figure, and GPS satellite transmit power.