This paper presents the overall architecture, first test structure implementations, and measurement results of an integrated GNSS front-end based on intentional path overlay. The front-end ASIC supports simultaneous multiband, multi-system GNSS reception of GPS L5 / Galileo E5 / GLONASS G3 and GPS L1 / Galileo E1 / GLONASS G1 signals with up to 52 MHz bandwidth while using only one common baseband path thanks to an intentional analog signal overlay. Test structures of the RF and baseband parts were realized in a 1.8V, 150nm RF-CMOS technology packaged in a QFN48 housings with full ESD protection. Both chips are described in detail regarding their design and their actual measurement results

This paper presents a general overlay based front-end architecture that enables the joint reception of two signals broadcast in separate frequency bands, sharing just one common baseband stage. The consequences of this overlay in terms of signal quality are analyzed and it is shown that the noise floor superposition results in non-negligible signal degradations. However, it is also demonstrated that these degradations can be minimized by judiciously setting the relative gain between the two signal paths. As an illustration, the analytical optimal path- control expression to combine overlayed signals in an ionospheric- free pseudorange is derived for both Cramer-Rao Lower Bound and practical code tracking parameters

The present paper introduces commercial components, circuit techniques and design considerations for energy harvesting power supplies in mobile communications. Transforming voltage levels is discussed as well as considerations to use energy storage elements. Furthermore a control method to decrease the power consumption of the communication module is presented. A hardware demonstrator with fully energy-autarkic thermo-electrical power supply is introduced. At last visions of the power supplies future for mobile devices are outlined

An inexpensive, flexible and precise pseudolite positioning system, developed at Fraunhofer IIS is presented. For this pseudolite system a real-time kinematic (RTK) method similar to the one employed in GNSS is applied. Because of the use of free-running clocks in the pseudolites and the characteristics of the signal, the application of RTK to the proprietary pseudolite system is challenging. A description of these challenges e.g., synchronization of transmitters and receivers, and methods to overcome them are addressed in this paper. The application of RTK allows accurate localization of a rover. The rover position is estimated through an extended Kalman filter (EKF) and the carrier phase integer ambiguity is resolved through Least-squares AMBiguity Decorrelation Adjustment (LAMBDA) method