This page is the “Hello, world! ” for GNSS-SDR. It will guide you from the scratch up to getting position fixes with GNSS-SDR, in one of its simplest configurations. The signal source will be a file (freely available on the Internet) containing raw signal samples, so this procedure does not require the availability of a radio frequency front-end nor a powerful computer executing the software receiver. The only requirement is GNSS-SDR installed in your computer, and an Internet connection to download the file containing the raw signal samples.

Step 1: Verify that GNSS-SDR is installed

This guide assumes that GNSS-SDR and its software dependencies are already installed on your system. In order to check whether it is correctly installed, open a terminal and type:

$ gnss-sdr --version

you should see something similar to:

$ gnss-sdr --version
gnss-sdr version 0.0.19
$

Please check that your installed version is 0.0.19 (or something like 0.0.19.git-branchname-githash if you built the code from a source code snapshot). Older versions could not work for the example shown here. If you installed GNSS-SDR by doing sudo apt-get install gnss-sdr and you got a version earlier to 0.0.19, please do sudo apt-get remove gnss-sdr and build it from source.

If you see something like:

$ gnss-sdr --version
gnss-sdr: command not found
$

please check out the building guide and the README.md file for more details on how to install GNSS-SDR.

In order to take advantage of the SIMD instruction sets present in your processor, you will need to run the profiler tools of the VOLK and VOLK_GNSSSDR libraries (these operations only need to be done once, and can take a while):

$ volk_profile

and

$ volk_gnsssdr_profile

Step 2: Download a file of raw signal samples

Now it’s time to download the file containing the GNSS raw signal samples. This can be done directly from the terminal:

$ mkdir work
$ cd work
$ wget https://sourceforge.net/projects/gnss-sdr/files/data/2013_04_04_GNSS_SIGNAL_at_CTTC_SPAIN.tar.gz
$ tar -zxvf 2013_04_04_GNSS_SIGNAL_at_CTTC_SPAIN.tar.gz

or by opening this link in your browser, downloading the file, and unpacking it. This will get you the file 2013_04_04_GNSS_SIGNAL_at_CTTC_SPAIN.dat, which contains \(100\) seconds of raw GNSS signal samples collected by an RF front-end centered at \(1,575.42\) MHz, that was delivering baseband samples at \(4\) MS/s, in an interleaved I&Q 16-bit integer format.

Step 3: Configure GNSS-SDR

Then, copy the GNSS-SDR configuration shown below and paste it into your favorite plain text editor:

[GNSS-SDR]

;######### GLOBAL OPTIONS ##################
GNSS-SDR.internal_fs_sps=2000000
GNSS-SDR.pre_2009_file=true

;######### SIGNAL_SOURCE CONFIG ############
SignalSource.implementation=File_Signal_Source
SignalSource.filename=/home/your-username/work/data/2013_04_04_GNSS_SIGNAL_at_CTTC_SPAIN.dat
SignalSource.item_type=ishort
SignalSource.sampling_frequency=4000000
SignalSource.samples=0

;######### SIGNAL_CONDITIONER CONFIG ############
SignalConditioner.implementation=Signal_Conditioner
DataTypeAdapter.implementation=Ishort_To_Complex
InputFilter.implementation=Pass_Through
InputFilter.item_type=gr_complex
Resampler.implementation=Direct_Resampler
Resampler.sample_freq_in=4000000
Resampler.sample_freq_out=2000000
Resampler.item_type=gr_complex

;######### CHANNELS GLOBAL CONFIG ############
Channels_1C.count=8
Channels.in_acquisition=8
Channel.signal=1C

;######### ACQUISITION GLOBAL CONFIG ############
Acquisition_1C.implementation=GPS_L1_CA_PCPS_Acquisition
Acquisition_1C.item_type=gr_complex
Acquisition_1C.pfa=0.01
Acquisition_1C.doppler_max=10000
Acquisition_1C.doppler_step=250
Acquisition_1C.blocking=true

;######### TRACKING GLOBAL CONFIG ############
Tracking_1C.implementation=GPS_L1_CA_DLL_PLL_Tracking
Tracking_1C.item_type=gr_complex
Tracking_1C.pll_bw_hz=40.0;
Tracking_1C.dll_bw_hz=4.0;

;######### TELEMETRY DECODER GPS CONFIG ############
TelemetryDecoder_1C.implementation=GPS_L1_CA_Telemetry_Decoder

;######### OBSERVABLES CONFIG ############
Observables.implementation=Hybrid_Observables

;######### PVT CONFIG ############
PVT.implementation=RTKLIB_PVT
PVT.positioning_mode=Single
PVT.output_rate_ms=100
PVT.display_rate_ms=500
PVT.iono_model=Broadcast
PVT.trop_model=Saastamoinen
PVT.flag_rtcm_server=true
PVT.flag_rtcm_tty_port=false
PVT.rtcm_dump_devname=/dev/pts/1
PVT.rtcm_tcp_port=2101
PVT.rtcm_MT1019_rate_ms=5000
PVT.rtcm_MT1077_rate_ms=1000
PVT.rinex_version=2

NOTE: Check that the parameter SignalSource.filename actually points to the name and path of your raw data file.

NOTE: For more details about the configuration options for each block, check out the Signal Processing Blocks documentation.

Save the file as my-first-GNSS-SDR-receiver.conf (or any other name of your choice).

Step 4: Run GNSS-SDR

Ok, let’s recap. We have:

  • GNSS-SDR installed in our system.
  • A signal source: A file named 2013_04_04_GNSS_SIGNAL_at_CTTC_SPAIN.dat containing 100 seconds of raw GPS signal samples, that were grabbed by a radio frequency front-end.
  • A configuration file for a GPS L1 C/A receiver that will take the file 2013_04_04_GNSS_SIGNAL_at_CTTC_SPAIN.dat as its signal source.

So, we are ready to run our software-defined GPS receiver. In a terminal, type:

$ gnss-sdr --config_file=./my-first-GNSS-SDR-receiver.conf

NOTE: Change ./my-first-GNSS-receiver.conf by the actual name and path of your recently created configuration file.

You should see something similar to:

$ gnss-sdr --config_file=./my-first-GNSS-SDR-receiver.conf
Initializing GNSS-SDR v0.0.19 ... Please wait.
Logging will be done at "/tmp"
Use gnss-sdr --log_dir=/path/to/log to change that.
Processing file /home/your-username/work/2013_04_04_GNSS_SIGNAL_at_CTTC_SPAIN.dat, which contains 1600000000 [bytes]
GNSS signal recorded time to be processed: 99.999 [s]
Starting a TCP/IP server of RTCM messages on port 2101
The TCP/IP server of RTCM messages is up and running. Accepting connections ...
...

Then, after some seconds detecting GPS signals and decoding some frames of their navigation messages (at least, subframes 1, 2, and 3 from four satellites)…

...
Current receiver time: 14 s
New GPS NAV message received in channel 3: subframe 1 from satellite GPS PRN 20 (Block IIR)
New GPS NAV message received in channel 0: subframe 1 from satellite GPS PRN 01 (Block IIF)
New GPS NAV message received in channel 4: subframe 1 from satellite GPS PRN 32 (Block IIF)
New GPS NAV message received in channel 2: subframe 1 from satellite GPS PRN 17 (Block IIR-M)
Current receiver time: 15 s
Current receiver time: 16 s
Current receiver time: 17 s
Current receiver time: 18 s
Current receiver time: 19 s
Current receiver time: 20 s
New GPS NAV message received in channel 3: subframe 2 from satellite GPS PRN 02 (Block IIR)
New GPS NAV message received in channel 0: subframe 2 from satellite GPS PRN 01 (Block IIF)
New GPS NAV message received in channel 4: subframe 2 from satellite GPS PRN 32 (Block IIF)
New GPS NAV message received in channel 1: subframe 2 from satellite GPS PRN 11 (Block IIR)
New GPS NAV message received in channel 2: subframe 2 from satellite GPS PRN 17 (Block IIR-M)
Current receiver time: 21 s
Current receiver time: 22 s
Current receiver time: 23 s
Current receiver time: 24 s
Current receiver time: 25 s
Current receiver time: 26 s
New GPS NAV message received in channel 3: subframe 3 from satellite GPS PRN 20 (Block IIR)
New GPS NAV message received in channel 0: subframe 3 from satellite GPS PRN 01 (Block IIF)
New GPS NAV message received in channel 4: subframe 3 from satellite GPS PRN 32 (Block IIF)
New GPS NAV message received in channel 2: subframe 3 from satellite GPS PRN 17 (Block IIR-M)
New GPS NAV message received in channel 1: subframe 3 from satellite GPS PRN 11 (Block IIR)
First position fix at 2013-Apr-04 06:23:31.740000 UTC is Lat = 41.2749 [deg], Long = 1.98754 [deg], Height= 100.795 [m]
Position at 2013-Apr-04 06:23:32.000000 UTC using 4 observations is Lat = 41.274888307 [deg], Long = 1.987581872 [deg], Height = 86.928 [m]
Position at 2013-Apr-04 06:23:32.500000 UTC using 4 observations is Lat = 41.274964746 [deg], Long = 1.987510141 [deg], Height = 90.557 [m]
Current receiver time: 27 s
Position at 2013-Apr-04 06:23:33.000000 UTC using 4 observations is Lat = 41.274921885 [deg], Long = 1.987605767 [deg], Height = 73.365 [m]
Position at 2013-Apr-04 06:23:33.500000 UTC using 4 observations is Lat = 41.274866502 [deg], Long = 1.987553835 [deg], Height = 83.313 [m]
Current receiver time: 28 s
Position at 2013-Apr-04 06:23:34.000000 UTC using 4 observations is Lat = 41.274904024 [deg], Long = 1.987612510 [deg], Height = 87.615 [m]
Position at 2013-Apr-04 06:23:34.500000 UTC using 4 observations is Lat = 41.274877911 [deg], Long = 1.987553312 [deg], Height = 81.405 [m]
Current receiver time: 29 s
Position at 2013-Apr-04 06:23:35.000000 UTC using 4 observations is Lat = 41.274916750 [deg], Long = 1.987576650 [deg], Height = 108.288 [m]
Position at 2013-Apr-04 06:23:35.500000 UTC using 4 observations is Lat = 41.274803167 [deg], Long = 1.987562527 [deg], Height = 90.144 [m]
Current receiver time: 30 s
Position at 2013-Apr-04 06:23:36.000000 UTC using 4 observations is Lat = 41.275044618 [deg], Long = 1.987619037 [deg], Height = 102.346 [m]
Position at 2013-Apr-04 06:23:36.500000 UTC using 4 observations is Lat = 41.274878468 [deg], Long = 1.987557377 [deg], Height = 102.764 [m]
Current receiver time: 31 s
Position at 2013-Apr-04 06:23:37.000000 UTC using 4 observations is Lat = 41.274995336 [deg], Long = 1.987554843 [deg], Height = 113.653 [m]
Position at 2013-Apr-04 06:23:37.500000 UTC using 4 observations is Lat = 41.274951615 [deg], Long = 1.987600581 [deg], Height = 92.064 [m]
Current receiver time: 32 s
...

If you see something similar to this… Yay! You are getting position fixes with your open source software-defined GPS receiver!

...
Current receiver time: 1 min 40 s
Position at 2013-Apr-04 06:24:45.500000 UTC using 5 observations is Lat = 41.274821613 [deg], Long = 1.987629659 [deg], Height = 69.292 [m]
Position at 2013-Apr-04 06:24:46.000000 UTC using 5 observations is Lat = 41.274817101 [deg], Long = 1.987576895 [deg], Height = 43.517 [m]
Position at 2013-Apr-04 06:24:46.500000 UTC using 5 observations is Lat = 41.274830209 [deg], Long = 1.987583859 [deg], Height = 54.475 [m]
Stopping GNSS-SDR, please wait!
Total GNSS-SDR run time: 37.106698 [seconds]
GNSS-SDR program ended.
Stopping TCP/IP server on port 2101
$

Now you can examine the processing outputs in the folder from which you invoked GNSS-SDR:

  • A .kml file.
  • A .geojson file.
  • A .gpx file.
  • A .nmea file.
  • Observation and Navigation RINEX files.

… play with the configuration parameters or try out more challenging configurations.

Updated: