The work has been divided into technical and business feasibility accordingly to the description of work.
The first business activities involved the market analysis of GNSS simulators, including the market size and segmentation, the analysis of competitors' products, the evaluation of emerging trends and new opportunities, the current distribution chain and the assessment of new user requirements. Afterwards the business viability has been performed working on the targeted user needs, the prioritization of market segments and regions, the assessment of value added features, SWOT analysis, innovative sales, distribution and marketing strategies. The business activities concluded with the defintion of a preliminary busienss plan and a tactical plan.
Technical feasibility had the objective to find a viable solution for the development of a real time GNSS fully software simulator, that runs in a PC and uses low cost USB hardware for signal up-conversion. The software must have similar performances if compared to low cost hardware simulators. Technical activities started with the state of the art in SDR and GNSS simulators and then, also based on user needs, proceeded with the prioritization of the features and the technology analysis of all the modules necessary to reach the main objectives. The study proceded with the technical feasibility including a high level design of the software comprising different scenarios, interference features, channel model, and software core design. A particular effort has been dedicated to the performance evaluation of complex and real-time execution. Proof of concept software have been developed to test specific perfomances.
The first result is the successful output of the technical feasibility, assuring the development of real time GNSS simulators with similar performances to low cost hardware competitors.
The second result is obtained thanks to the business viability output: a strong confidence that the product is feasible and profitable, and that a leadership position can be reached in this niche market.
