{"id":67949,"date":"2017-06-21T23:10:48","date_gmt":"2017-06-21T15:10:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/spirent-execs-on-new-standards-for-gps-technology\/"},"modified":"2017-06-21T23:10:48","modified_gmt":"2017-06-21T15:10:48","slug":"spirent-execs-on-new-standards-for-gps-technology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/spirent-execs-on-new-standards-for-gps-technology\/","title":{"rendered":"Spirent Execs on New Standards for GPS Technology"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n

Spirent Communications <\/strong>announced that the European Union\u2019s Training, Research and Applications (TREASURE) project is using Spirent\u2019s testing solutions to support integration of Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS). TREASURE aims by 2020 to improve the accuracy of positioning services by combining signals from multiple systems, including GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou and Galileo.<\/p>\n

According to Simon Loe, Spirent\u2019s head of marketing solutions and services for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, Spirent\u2019s solutions can create virtual environments that allow researchers to test those signals in a way that replicates real life applications. \u201cIn the case of GPS testing, we have the technology to simulate GPS signals so that someone can test if their receiver is working properly without having to leave the lab,\u201d Loe said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are so many parameters that one needs to consider when one is simulating that environment,\u201d added Spirent Market Segment Manager Rahul Gupta. \u201cSay you\u2019re doing an application where your device is traveling at hundreds of miles per hour \u2014 you want to make sure the dynamics of the simulation are in tune with that. That\u2019s something you get with our simulators.\u201d<\/p>\n

Connected transportation has become a major driver for the business, he said, particularly in civil aviation. According to Gupta, one of the biggest obstacles for the mobility market is that GNSS signals are notoriously susceptible to interference. \u201cThese are low power signals being transmitted from satellites very high up in the air. So by the time they land on Earth, they become quite vulnerable,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Rahul Gupta, Spirent market segment manager.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Simon_Loe_Thumbnail-2\"
Simon Loe, Spirent EMEA head of marketing solutions and services.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

To tackle this issue, Spirent launched an interference detector that monitors Radio Frequency (RF) signals around airports, and has also been working alongside aerospace companies to ensure the signals used by Air Traffic Management (ATM) are robust against jamming. \u201cWe\u2019ve had some discussions with aerospace manufacturers to help them understand how they can connect an aircraft to a cellular network, for example, if it\u2019s coming into land, and do that in a secure way so that it\u2019s not liable to suffer any security vulnerabilities,\u201d Loe said.<\/p>\n

Gupta said demand for the company\u2019s testing solutions has also accelerated in recent years as GPS technology gets adopted in more commercial applications, such as in wearable devices and other products related to the Internet of Things (IOT). \u201cAs these devices come onto the networks, [manufacturers] want to make sure the location performance of these devices is up to the mark,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

While it may be cheaper for manufacturers to simply test their devices with signals already present outside, Gupta pointed out that this method is unreliable as it is not repeatable. \u201cEnvironments change a fair bit. If you see an issue today, you might not see it tomorrow. What you get with us \u2026 is repeatability. You have full control of the environment and can recreate any problem you had faced,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Gupta noted that the expectations of both device manufacturers and their customers are changing as GPS technology improves. Users are no longer satisfied with fitness trackers, for example, that report they\u2019ve run 2.5 miles when they\u2019ve actually run 3. Accuracy down to the meter has become inadequate, and centimeters are now the new baseline. \u201cThat can have an effect on the value of that product and the value of the company,\u201d Gupta said. \u201cSo, more and more, technology vendors are looking to improve the quality of [the products] they deliver to the end customer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Spirent has also benefited from addressing the ever-present cybersecurity concerns that swirl around IOT networks. Even connected devices as trivial as a toaster could be seen as a vulnerable node in an otherwise secure network. To test these weak points, Loe said Spirent is able to simulate different threats for its customers\u2019 networks, such as Denial of Service (DOS) attacks. \u201cWe can pressure-test a device so you can measure the performance of a firewall,\u201d he said, adding that Spirent provides similar services for financial organizations. \u201cWe use the same kind of technology so that when they install their firewalls there are no backdoors or weakness that can be exploited.\u201d<\/p>\n

Looking ahead, Gupta said Spirent will continue to break into new verticals as GPS technology becomes more ubiquitous and new constellations \u2014 such as Japan\u2019s Quazi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS) and the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) \u2014 emerge. \u201cThat is causing our customers to come to us and ask how to test their devices to support all these different kinds of signals,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Spirent Communications announced that the European Union\u2019s Training, Research and Applications (TREASURE) project is using Spirent\u2019s testing solutions to support integration of Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS). TREASURE aims by 2020 to improve the accuracy of positioning services by combining signals from multiple systems, including GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou and Galileo. According to Simon Loe, Spirent\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":58503,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-67949","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67949"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67949"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67949\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58503"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67949"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67949"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67949"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}