GPS Receiver RF Front-End Enables Use of a Laptop PC for Soft Baseband Processing

Software techniques for use in the global positioning system (GPS)1,2 have recently captured the growing interest of communication and navigation engineers. Thanks to very-largescale integration (VLSI) development, powerful CPUs and DSPs are now capable of detecting and decoding GPS signals in real time using software. The resulting software-based GPS receivers offer considerable flexibility in modifying settings to accommodate new applications without hardware redesign, using the same board design for different frequency plans, and implementing future upgrades.