WO2019057302A1

WO2019057302A1 - Method and system for virtualized gnss reception

Info

Publication number: WO2019057302A1
Application number: PCT/EP2017/074147
Authority: WO
Inventors: Carlos FERNANDEZ PRADES
Original assignee: Fundació Centre Tecnologic De Telecomunicacions De Catalunya (Cttc)
Priority date: 2017-09-24
Filing date: 2017-09-24
Publication date: 2019-03-28

Abstract

Different aspects of the invention comprise a software-defined virtualized GNSS receiver, executed in the cloud, receiving a collection of GNSS signal streams captured by a set of collectors located elsewhere, and connected to the cloud via a high-performance communication network. The proposed system architecture allows for continuous GNSS signal streaming from the antenna to the GNSS baseband unit in real-time in a cost-effective manner.

Description

METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR VIRTUALIZED GNSS RECEPTION

TECHNICAL FIELD

[001] The present invention relates generally to the field of GNSS systems, and in particular, to a novel system architecture for economic yet fast and accurate geodesic information provision and/or location determination.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[002] Different location determination systems exist which obtain readings from Global Navigation Satellite Systems, GNSS, in order to determine the location of a particular user. However, such solutions suffer from a number of drawbacks. Battery drainage, or excessive electricity consumption, is a common problem for smaller devices carrying an onboard a GNSS device for location determination. The constant communication with the satellites, as well as the computer processing required to continually process the received data, is capable of depleting the batteries of such mobile devices very rapidly.

[003] Systems which have tackled this problem manage to reduce battery consumption, however at the expense of location accuracy. Since they rely on obtaining data from GNSS satellites less frequently, and perform minimal processing locally, the accuracy is highly limited, with an error margin ranging from 30m to 100m. Other systems implement a light processing locally, and obtain highly accurate GNSS data from a centralized server, in order to periodically correct their own readings. However, these systems tend to be rather slow and exhibit high latency. Most of these systems are also highly expensive, as they utilize complex hardware for high-accuracy localization in the centralized server.

[004] Therefore a need exists to effectively solve the abovementioned problems.

SUMMARY [005] It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide solutions to the above mentioned problems. In particular, it is an object of the invention to provide a novel system architecture enabling real-time location determination in a cost-effective and resource-efficient manner. It is also an objective of the invention to provide real-time geodesic information for third party usage.

[006] This is achieved by providing a system architecture wherein a plurality of GNSS collectors spread throughout a geographic area receives and retransmits raw data from GNSS satellites to an internet-based virtualized GNSS receiver, which performs the baseband processing on the received signals to produce geodesic information. Since the GNSS collectors comprise the minimum components necessary to receive and re-transmit the signals, they are low-cost and low-energy consuming devices. This enables a very large number of GNSS collectors to be deployed throughout a given region. The GNSS receiver operates as a software-defined receiver in a virtualized environment, enabling the efficient management of the large amount of information arriving from different sources, and providing the corresponding geodesic information in real-time.

[007] Therefore, it is one object of the present invention to provide a collector device for geodesic information provision, and corresponding method.

[008] It is another object of the present invention to provide a receiver device for geodesic information provision, and corresponding method.

[009] It is another object of the present invention to provide a system for geodesic information provision, and corresponding method.

[0010] It is another object of the present invention to provide a computer program comprising instructions, once executed on a processor, for performing the steps of a method of geodesic information provision.

[0011] It is another object of the present invention to provide a computer readable medium comprising instructions, once executed on a processor, for performing the steps of a method of geodesic information provision.

[0012] The invention provides methods and devices that implement various aspects, embodiments, and features of the invention, and are implemented by various means. The various means may comprise, for example, hardware, software, firmware, or a combination thereof, and these techniques may be implemented in any single one, or combination of, the various means. [0013] For a hardware implementation, the various means may comprise processing units implemented within one or more application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), digital signal processors (DSPs), digital signal processing devices (DSPDs), programmable logic devices (PLDs), field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), processors, controllers, micro-controllers, microprocessors, other electronic units designed to perform the functions described herein, or a combination thereof.

[0014] For a software implementation, the various means may comprise modules (for example, procedures, functions, and so on) that perform the functions described herein. The software codes may be stored in a memory unit and executed by a processor. The memory unit may be implemented within the processor or external to the processor.

[0015] Various aspects, configurations and embodiments of the invention are described. In particular the invention provides methods, apparatus, systems, processors, program codes, computer readable media, and other apparatuses and elements that implement various aspects, configurations and features of the invention, as described below.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING(S)

[0016] The features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the detailed description set forth below when taken in conjunction with the drawings in which like reference characters identify corresponding elements in the different drawings. Corresponding elements may also be referenced using different characters.

[0017] FIG. 1 depicts the system architecture of the invention.

[0018] FIG. 2 depicts the virtual network function infrastructure for end-to- end network function virtualization management and orchestration of the invention.

[0019] FIG. 3 depict a collector device of the invention.

[0020] FIG. 4 depicts two implementations of the virtualized GNSS receiver of the invention.

[0021] FIG. 5 depicts a method of virtualized GNSS reception by a collector device of the invention.

[0022] FIG. 6 depicts the method of virtualized GNSS reception by the receiver device of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0023] Certain terminology is hereby defined for the sake of improving the understanding of the reader. The "cloud" is a term hereby defined as referring to accessing computer, IT, and software applications through a network connection, often by accessing data centers using wide area networking, WAN, or internet connection. Software-defined networking, SDN, is hereby defined as an approach to computer networking that allows network administrators to programnnatically initialize, control, change, and manage network behavior dynamically via open interfaces and abstraction of lower-level functionality. Network function virtualization, NFV, is hereby defined as a network architecture concept that uses technologies for logically dividing a system's IT resources to implement virtual network node functions, that is, functional entities that act as physical devices which can then be managed as building blocks that may be connected, or chained together, to create communication services. The automated arrangement, coordination, and management of computer systems, middleware, and services, generally referred to as orchestration. Orchestration is understood as the coherent coordination of heterogeneous systems, allocating diverse resources and composing functions to offer end-user services. The application of such concepts and associated technologies allows companies to increase the efficiency and flexibility of their IT resources by managing them as logical entities instead of as physical, hardwired units dedicated to a given application or service.

[0024] FIG. 1 depicts a system architecture 100 according to one embodiment of the invention. The inventor has realized that great advantages are obtained by separating the GNSS antenna from the GNSS baseband processing, and implementing the baseband processing in a virtualized environment in the cloud, or internet 120. At least one GNSS collecting means 1 10 is configured to receive signals emitted by geostationary satellites 130 and transmit the raw GNSS data to the cloud. To this end the collecting means comprises a GNSS antenna (or acquisition means), a radio frequency conversion means (or conversion means), and transmission means. Since the GNSS collectors comprise the minimum components necessary to receive and re-transmit the signals, they are low-cost and low-energy consuming devices. This enables a very large number of GNSS collectors to be deployed throughout a given region.

[0025] The raw GNSS data is received by a GNSS receiver operating as a software-defined receiver in a virtualized environment. This deployment of a set of low-cost radio heads sending raw GNSS signals to a software-defined receiver, SDR, in the cloud acts as a network of GNSS reference stations, generating high-rate geodesic information (such as pseudorange, phase and Doppler observables) in real-time. Therefore the efficient management of a large amount of information arriving from different sources is enabled, providing the corresponding geodesic information in real-time. The receiver is capable of generating GNSS products (for example, pseudorange, phase-range and pseudorange rate observables) for GPS L1 C/A and Galileo E1 b/c signals, obtained without any kind of external assistance nor differential system, and delivered in standard formats such as RINEX files or RTCM 10403.2 messages. Due to the use of a plurality of collectors, the system is intrinsically robust due to diversity. No matter which receivers are subject to bad weather conditions, or happen to have low direct line-of-sight satellite visibility, there will always be at least one collecting means which can receive and re-transmit the GNSS signal.

[0026] In one aspect, the collecting means 300 (FIG. 3) may be specialized device designed for this purpose, comprising a GNSS antenna 310, a radio frequency conversion means 320, transmission means 330 and a power source 340. The collectors, also referred to as radio-frequency front-ends, perform signal amplification, frequency downshifting, filtering and conversion into the digital domain. In a different aspect, existing electronic devices with integrated GNSS receivers may be utilized as collectors and programmed to re-route raw GNSS signals to the virtualized GNSS cloud receiver. Either way, since their functionality is limited to receiving and re-routing, they consume very little resources, both computational as well as energetic.

[0027] One type of collecting means is better suited for static users with connectivity to an optical network, or any other equivalent high bandwidth network. In this scenario, the user equipment (that is, the radio head) may comprise at least one or more GNSS antennas, each one with one Low Noise Amplifier per targeted GNSS band, an Electrical-to-Optical (E-O) converter, and an optical fiber connection to an optical network.

[0028] Another type of collecting means is better for mobile users (or users without connection to an optical network), and the user equipment comprises one or more GNSS antennas, each one with a RF front-end per targeted GNSS band that converts the RF (analogue) signal to a stream of digitized signal samples, usually downconverted to a low intermediate frequency. The analog- to-digital conversion delivers a minimum data bit rate of r >= BW ^■ 2 ^■ q ^■ N, where BW is the targeted (passband) bandwidth, q is the number of bits per sample and N is the number of antennas. The data stream(s) must be then sent to the network through a wireless interface.

[0029] The raw data is transmitted to the cloud via a communications channel 1 15, which in one aspect is a wired link, or in another aspect, is a wireless communications link. The wired link may be via USB, Gigabit Ethernet, PCIe Express or optical fiber cable. The wireless link may be a 4G LTE, or 5G, or IEEE 802.1 1 n, or IEEE802.1 1 ac communications link.

[0030] The channel links the collecting means to a network access point 140 which routes all received raw data from multiple receiving means to at least one virtualized receiver means 150. A router is a networking device that forwards data packets between computer networks. They operate at the network layer, and its role is to connect different logical sub-networks, for example, 5G to WAN, which inject GNSS signals gathered by mobile users to the optical network; or WAN to LAN, which inject GNSS signals from the optical network to the local area network of the data center. Devices operating at a data link layer (for instance connecting devices within a LAN, or nodes within an optical WLAN) are usually referred to as switches. In one aspect, the two functions of fast packet forwarding (data path) and high level routing decisions (control path) are separated from each other. The data path portion resides on the switch, while high-level routing decisions are moved to a software-defined network controller. This routing may be performed via any suitable communications channel 125 enabling communications in the internet, typically a high bandwidth low latency communications channel.

[0031] The at least one receiving means 150, or virtualized software-defined receiver VSDR, performs baseband processing on the raw data received from the plurality collectors and is configured for providing processed geodesic information to users depending on the particular application 160 in real-time. A software-defined GNSS receiver is a computer program that takes raw GNSS signal samples as its input and performs all the baseband processing up to the computation of GNSS observables and the Position-Velocity-Time, PVT, solution, thus replacing dedicated integrated circuits. In one aspect, the at least one receiving means may be implemented as at least one server on the premises of a GNSS service provider. In a different aspect, the at least one receiving means may be a plurality of processing resources spread throughout the internet sharing the functionality of baseband processing and geodesic information provision as managed by a network orchestrator.

[0032] FIG. 4 depicts two different implementations of a virtualized GNSS receiver. FIG. 4A depicts the virtualized GNSS receiver implemented as a virtual machine and FIG. 4B depicts the virtualized GNSS receiver implemented as a software container. When implemented as a virtual machine, the GNSS receiver comprises a common hypervisor 440, host operating system 450 and server 460, which serve independently running virtual machines, each virtual machine comprising a software-defined GNSS receiver 410, a repository of bins/libs 420 and a guest operating system 430. When implemented as a software container, the GNSS receiver comprises a common repository of bins/libs 480, a host operating system 490, a server 495, and container engine 485, which serve independently running software-defined GNSS receivers 470.

[0033] Since the collectors perform fast and simple data collection and transmission, and the heavy resource intensive processing takes place in a virtualized environment in internet, the virtualized receiver is capable of providing all kinds of services in real-time. In one application, the raw data is packaged for serving to third parties interested in processing the geodesic information themselves. In another application, the precise location of the collectors is determined to cm-level accuracy and provided in real-time. In yet another application, certain virtualized receivers function as GNSS reference stations, using the raw data collected to generate differential data than can be used for real-time corrections for third users. In yet another application, the virtualized receiver can use the processed information to certify to a requesting user that his geodesic information is valid and accurate. Such space-time stamping will allow any user to transmit to the cloud a batch of GNSS signals, and receive in return a trusted certificate of position and time. Yet another advantageous application relates to providing aid in disaster relief scenarios, wherein a low cost GNSS-related infrastructure can be deployed very rapidly and economically in any region of the globe, helping the emergency services navigate and locate their targets.

[0034] Further, all of these applications are user-configurable, in the sense that it permits to cater the information per user according to their preferences. In one aspect, the periodicity of information provision, and therefore the frequency at which the whole system operates, may be configured, optimizing thereby system resource usage. In a different aspect, the type and content of the information may be selected.

[0035] Another advantage is that the GNSS system architecture is inherently secure, as most of the information travelling through the weakest links is raw encrypted data, whereas the encryption module remains on the service provider's premises. Due to the nature of the collecting means, the flow of information from satellites to collectors to the virtualized receiver is continuous and without interruptions, resulting in a latency-free GNSS system.

[0036] Yet another advantage is the scalability, as the system adapts rapidly and with minimal additional resources to more users, more GNSS signals and bands, more external data sources or to more complex signal and data processing algorithms. Other advantages of such a system are reliability (a trusted receiver for certification / security aspects), efficiency (power consumption trade-off between the user equipment and the cloud infrastructure), interoperability (the possibility to exchange information with other sources, devices and systems) and marketability (for instance, providing a rapid path from a source code change in the software receiver to service deployment) could be of equal importance.

[0037] FIG. 2 depicts another embodiment of the system architecture, comprising further details of the system components of the virtual network function infrastructure for end-to-end network function virtualization management and orchestration. Here both types of collecting means are depicted: the wireless collecting means 21 1 using wireless links and the wired collecting means 215 using wired links. The wireless collecting means 21 1 communicates with a wireless network access point 212 which is further linked to the network access points 140, or routing means. In the aspect depicted, the wired link is an optical cable, and radio frequency signal from the wired collecting means 215 is converted to an optical signal by conversion means 220, which transmits the optical signal to the network access points 140, or routing means. The data traveling in the form of light (possibly on multiple wavelengths) through an optical network needs to be switched at the network nodes. A data stream arriving at a given node is forwarded to its final destination via the best possible path, which is determined by factors such as distance, cost, and the reliability of specific routes. While conventional optical switching consists of converting the input fiber optical signal to an electrical signal, performing the switching in the electrical domain, and then converting the electrical signal back to an optical signal that goes down the desired output fiber, new approaches such as reconfigurable optical add/drop multiplexer, ROADM, systems are able to avoid the unnecessary O-E-O conversion (and its associated expensive, bulky, and bit-rate/protocol dependent subsystems), enabling transparent O-O-O systems that use optical switching. This involves lower capital expenditures as there is no need for a large amount of expensive high-speed electronics, and lower operational expenditures because fewer network elements are required. The complexity reduction also allows for physically smaller optical switches. There are four main types of ROADM: Type I, with fixed (colored) ports; Type II, which offers reconfigurable (colorless) add/drop ports; Wavelength Selective Switches (WSS), that allow for degree-N connectivity; and Optical Cross-Connects (OXC), which are used for wavelength cross-connect switching in mesh networks. The Generalized Multi- Protocol Label Switching, GMPLS, is used as the control plane of wavelength switched optical networks.

[0038] The conversion means 220 is configured to act transparently as a network node by an agent, or monitoring means 290. Network agents monitor network resources and make IP addresses and computer names available. They can be from simple scripts to complex, full-featured software tools, depending on the service or application requirements. An agent is a program continuously running as a background process (sometimes called a "daemon") at each of those elements that listens for such requests and applies the corresponding actions within the network. The communications channel 125 used for high-bandwidth and low latency communications throughout the internet is preferably optical cable, therefore the network access points are configured to communicate with each other using optical fibres.

[0039] In one example implementation, the user equipment comprises an antenna, an amplification stage and an E-O converter. The chosen GNSS antenna is a NavXperience's 3G+C, which features a low noise amplifier providing a gain of 42 dB with noise figure of 2 dB. A second GNSS amplifier is placed (model A1 1 by GPS Source Inc.) providing 30 dB of gain with a noise figure of 1 .8 dB, and its output connected to the E-O converter in charge of turning the received RF signals into light. The E-O converter is a Tunics Reference SCL tunable laser source tuned at 1550.12 nm and with 2 dBm of output power; a Photline Technologies' DR-AN-40-MO single-ended driver (that is, a wideband RF non-inverting amplifier delivering a gain of 26 dB with a noise figure of 3 dB); and a Mach-Zehnder modulator which controlled the amplitude of the optical wave. The generated signal is then injected into an optical fiber that transmits the signal to an optical switch that acts as the entry point of a transport optical network. The optical WAN, in charge of transporting the GNSS signals, in form of light, from the user's antenna to the data center; and an O-E converter, a RF front-end and a virtualized GNSS receiver in the back-end side.

[0040] System 200 comprises a network function virtualization orchestrator, NFVO, or means for orchestrating 230, which is a functional block within the framework that is responsible for on-boarding of new network services and virtual network function, VNF, packages, network services lifecycle management, global resource management, and the validation and authorization of network functions virtualization infrastructure, NFVI, resource requests. The NFVI is the totality of the hardware and software components which build up the environment in which VNFs are deployed. This includes the collectors, the network elements, computational, storage, and networking resources. A virtual network function, VNF, is defined as a functional block that has well-defined external interfaces and well-defined functional behavior, and that can be deployed in a NFVI.

[0041] The function of resource orchestration is to ensure that there are adequate computational, storage, and network resources available to provide a GNSS service. To meet that objective, the NFVO can work either with a virtualized infrastructure manager, VIM, or directly with NFVI resources, depending on the requirements. It has the ability to coordinate, authorize, release, and engage NFVI resources independently of any specific VIM. It also provides governance of VNF instances sharing resources of the NFVI. The NVFO 230 also maintains four repositories: two catalogues that hold the information related to the creation 282 and management 286 of all the supported network services and VNF packages, a third repository 285 holding information of all VNF and Network Service instances, and a NFVI Resources repository 288 holding information about available/reserved/allocated NFVI resources as abstracted by the VIM.

[0042] The network function virtualization orchestrator communicates with a virtual network function manager, VNFM, or means for network control 235, which is a functional block within the framework that is responsible for the lifecycle management of VNF instances. This includes operations such as VNF instantiation (that is, VNF creation using the VNF on-boarding artifacts); VNF in/out scaling (that is, the ability to scale by adding/removing resource instances, for instance virtual machines); up/down scaling (the ability to scale by changing allocated resources, for example, increasing/decreasing memory, CPU capacity or storage size); updating and/or upgrading (support VNF software and/or configuration changes of various complexity); and VFN termination (release of VNF-associated NFVI resources). Other VNFM functions include VNF initial configuration for example, assigning IP addresses, instantiation feasibility checking, notification of changes in the VNF lifecycle, integrity monitoring, and the collection of VNF instance-related NFVI performance measurement results.

[0043] Together with the virtual network function manager 235, the network function virtualization orchestrator 230 communicates with a virtualized infrastructure manager, VIM, or means for infrastructure control 240, which is the functional block within the framework that is responsible for controlling, managing and monitoring the NFVI computational, storage, and network resources. There can be a single VIM or multiple, specialized VIMs, for example, compute-only, storage-only, networking-only, but the idea is to have a single abstraction layer that exposes northbound (with respect to the component depiction of the drawing) open interfaces that support management of the NFVI, and southbound (with respect to the component depiction of the drawing) interfaces that interact to a variety of network controllers and hypervisors (that is, programs that create and run virtual machines) in order to perform the functionality exposed through its northbound interfaces. Hence, this provides VNF managers and NFV orchestrators with the ability to deploy and manage VNFs. The means for infrastructure control 240 keeps an inventory of the allocation of virtual resources to physical resources. This allows the VIM to orchestrate the allocation, upgrade, release, and reclamation of NFVI hardware resources (computational, storage, networking) and software resources (for example, hypervisors). It also collects performance and fault information, which enables usage optimization.

[0044] In one aspect, the function of system orchestration performed by the means for infrastructure control is implemented as two separate sub-blocks within the VIM: network orchestration means 242, in charge of managing the end-to-end connectivity (that is, the communication network from the collectors to the compute resources executing instances of a software-defined GNSS receiver, being a private data center, a public cloud computing service, or a mix of both), and cloud orchestration means 244, specialized in hardware and software resources. In a different aspect both functions are combined into a single means for infrastructure control 240. The means for orchestrating 230 and the means for infrastructure control 240 communicate via a dedicated channel 232.

[0045] As mentioned, the network orchestration means 242 supports the end-to-end management of VNF forwarding graphs, for example, by creating and maintaining virtual links 246, virtual networks, sub-nets, and ports, in order to transport the GNSS signals collected by the collectors through the communication network to a data center, in which a computer executes one or more virtual machines or software containers, one of them executing the software-defined GNSS receiver that will process the signals gathered by the collector. The network orchestration means 242 sends requests to the agents of the user equipment and back-end network end-points. The network orchestrator is also in charge of the management of security group policies to ensure network/traffic access control. [0046] The cloud orchestration means 244 coordinates the server hardware, so that virtual server instances for example, virtual machines or software containers, can be created from the most convenient underlying physical server. It manages a range of virtual IT resources across multiple physical servers, and provides for centralized administration of virtualized resources including creating, storing, backing up, patching and monitoring. It is also in charge of the management of software images for example, a virtualized GNSS receiver as requested by the NFVO and the VNFM. Such configuration may also be implemented using software containers instead of virtual machines. The cloud orchestration means 244 communicates via channel 248.

[0047] The network orchestration means 242 coordinates with a software- defined networking controller, or software control means 250, which is the application that acts as the control point in the SDN network, managing the flow control to the switches/routers via the so-called southbound APIs and the applications and business logic via northbound APIs to deploy intelligent networks. In the northbound direction, the control plane provides a common abstracted view of the network to higher-level applications and programs using APIs. In the southbound direction, the control plane programs the forwarding behavior of the data plane, using device level APIs of the physical network equipment distributed around the network. The SDN controller is then in charge of managing the network elements (switches, routers, and so on) that will transport the GNSS signal streams from the collector equipment to the computational resources executing instances of virtualized GNSS receivers.

[0048] The manner in which the GNSS signal streams are transported from the collector equipment to the computational resources executing instances of virtualized GNSS receivers varies depending on whether the signal stems from a wired or wireless collector. In the case of wired collecting means 212 (those that inject the RF signal received at the GNSS antenna directly into a fiber via an E-O converter), the signal is converted back to the electric domain via conversion means 260. Then, the analogue signal stream (still at RF) is converted down to baseband (or low IF), filtered and converted to the digital domain by an analogue-to-digital converter 270, ADC, and then sent to the corresponding host computer through the data center's LAN. In the case of wired collecting means 21 1 (those that inject digitized GNSS signals to the network), the data stream is directly fed to the data center's LAN by a router 140 connected to the optical WAN.

[0049] The virtualized GNSS receiver 150 instances reside in a data center which is a resource pool for storage, management, processing and distribution of data pertaining to a particular business or administrative domain. It is commonly understood as a (large) group of networked computer servers. In one aspect the cloud management frameworks are built at a centralized location, so servers can interchange information using Ethernet technologies within a LAN. In another aspect, the cloud management frameworks are built as distributed cloud infrastructures, where a set of either on-premises or remote, private or public computing clouds are all orchestrated together. This is especially interesting in services in which a low latency is required, for instance by selecting computing resources located geographically near to the end user.

[0050] An instance of a software-defined GNSS receiver executed in a virtual environment is called a virtualized GNSS receiver. The virtualized GNSS receiver 150 is implemented by a virtualized software application which is a program that can be executed regardless of the underlying computer platform, for example, processor architecture, operating system and installed library versions that is executing it. This can be achieved by packaging the application and all of its software requirements (the operating system and all the application-required supporting libraries and programs) in a single, self- contained and isolated software entity that is then run on any platform. This is a very convenient strategy for orchestration, since it allows the elastic creation, execution and destruction of application instances as requested on a per-user basis, and to intelligently spread the running instances along the available compute resources, regardless of what they are exactly composed of (that is, processor architecture, version of the host operating system or physical location).

[0051] In one aspect, software virtualization is implemented by virtual machines. A virtual machine, VM, is a software-based environment designed to simulate a hardware-based environment, for the sake of the applications it will host. A VM emulates a computer architecture and provides the functionality of a physical computer. Within each virtual machine runs a full operating system, so conventional software applications expecting to be managed by an operating system and executed by a set of processor cores, for example, a software- defined GNSS receiver runs within a VM without any required change. With VMs, a software component called a hypervisor interfaces between the VM environment and the underlying hardware, providing the necessary layer of abstraction. The hypervisor is responsible for executing the virtual machine assigned to it, and it can execute several of them simultaneously.

[0052] In a different aspect, software virtualization is implemented by software containers. Software containers are implemented instead of VMs as the preferred supporting software stack system for virtual ized software applications because of the faster and more lightweight nature of the software containers. An application running in a container is more efficient in making use of the underlying hardware than when it is executed on a VM (since it operates directly with the real processing units instead of against an emulated layer, avoiding its overhead, and many more containers than VMs can be put onto a single server, thus optimizing the investment in compute resources). An advantage of containerization is for security purposes, by isolating process groups (a process and possible descendant processes) from the outside world. One approach consists in producing partitions (sometimes called "jails") within which applications of questionable security or authenticity are executed without risk to the kernel. The kernel is still responsible for execution, though a layer of abstraction is inserted between the kernel and the workload. Once the environment within these partitions is minimized for efficiency's sake, the concept is expanded to make the contents of those partitions portable.

[0053] As mentioned, the virtualized receiver is capable of providing all kinds of services in real-time. In one application, a network of GNSS reference stations can produce differential data which can then be used to provide realtime corrections (and thus cm-level accuracy) to third-party users. Such service is currently provided providers having very expensive equipment for accurate GNSS signal reception and processing. The virtualized GNSS receiver of the invention enables providing this service in real-time in cost-effective manner.

[0054] Another application is the rapid deployment of a GNSS infrastructure in disaster relief scenarios. In a cost-effective manner, it is possible to deploy a minimum number of collectors in a disaster relief zone in order to aid the emergency services to navigate and locate their targets. Anyone can be equipped with a device which little weight and uses little battery power in order to populate a certain geographic region with GNSS signal collecting means, which signals are then processed outside the relief zone in real-time.

[0055] Another application is the provision of highly secure solution for GNSS commercial services, for example, Galileo E6, GNSS Authentication, and security-related applications (GPS M code, Galileo PRS), since the encryption module remains on the service provider's premises. From one side, user-to-data center communications can be secured with standard authentication services, which is usually managed by the end-to-end orchestrator. Then, once the GNSS signal has arrived to the data center, the GNSS encryption module is used to decrypt and/or to authenticate the GNSS signal. Several GNSS data and signal authentication methods can be applied here: for instance, the data center can have a secured, trusted receiver, and then correlate the incoming signals with the signals received by the trusted receiver. If the correlation of the encrypted code is above a certain threshold, the GNSS signal can be considered authenticated.

[0056] Yet another application is the provision of certified "space-time- stamping" services. The creation of encrypted containers for security purposes is implemented, ensuring the reproducibility of the software-defined GNSS receiver, that is, in gaining confidence that a distributed binary code is indeed coming from a given verified source code. In this sense, it is possible to certify whether any geodesic information is valid, in particular, geodesic information obtained via other means, not through the system of the invention. For example, a user wanting to verify the validity of a certain event which has taken place at a certain location on a certain date can provide a batch of GNSS signals relating to the event, send it to the cloud, and receive back a trusted certificate of position and time. By using GNSS authentication methods, the service provider certifies those signals were received at a certain position and time, and they were not fabricated (synthetized) by the user. Another example is sending a geo-stamped multimedia item, such as a photograph, video, or audio file, and request certification that the multimedia item was indeed generated at a particular geographic location and/or time.

[0057] Yet another application is the implementation of controlled reception pattern antennas, CRPAs, or antenna arrays. In case of a plurality of antennas in the user side, antenna array processing techniques can be applied in the data center. By applying complex weights to the signal received in each antenna, the radiation pattern can be controlled without any physical manipulation of the antenna. This allows the implementation of beamforming algorithms that can put reception nulls in directions in which interference / multipath signals are impinging the antenna, thus mitigating their effects. The resulting system is robust to jamming/spoofing/multipath, and enables the localization of interference sources.

[0058] Further, any of these applications can be offered in a user- configurable manner, for example, by providing a programmable output rate of GNSS observables. User-configurability enables the system to be utilized for optimum resource utilization. Yet another application is low energy, cloud offloaded GNSS receiver for the Internet of Things. A user can grab a batch of GNSS signals, store it, and send it later to the data center for further processing, admitting any kind of duty cycling. This saves the power consumption required to compute position in the user device, which is of interest for sensors with limited power life. This is especially interesting for Internet of Things applications, in which sensors are battery-powered and they do not need continuous GNSS position fixes.

[0059] FIG. 5 depicts the method 500 of virtualized GNSS reception by a collector device of the invention. A first step comprises acquiring 510 a GNSS signal from at least one GNSS satellite, followed by converting 520 the GNSS signal into a digital signal and transmitting 530 the digitized GNSS signal to receiving means over an external communications channel .

[0060] FIG. 6 depicts the method 600 of virtualized GNSS reception by the receiver device of the invention. A first step comprises receiving 610, over an external communications channel, at least one digitized GNSS signal from at least one collector device, converting 620 the at least one GNSS signal to a baseband signal, and processing 630 the at least one baseband signal to produce geodesic information relating to the at least one collector device.

[0061] One aspect comprises packaging and transmitting the geodesic information corresponding to a subset of collector devices to third parties. Another aspect comprises determining the precise location to cm-level of a particular collector device and confirming the location to a user of the corresponding collector device. Yet another aspect comprises determining and providing differential data to be used for highly accurate real-time corrections to third parties. Yet another aspect comprises space-time stamping by receiving GNSS data from a user and certifying the validity of the geodesic parameters corresponding to the received data. Yet another aspect comprises dynamically allocating resources between the collector devices and the cloud infrastructure.

[0062] Therefore the different aspects of the invention described comprise a software-defined virtualized GNSS receiver, executed in the cloud, receiving a collection of GNSS signal streams captured by a set of collectors (radio heads) located elsewhere, and connected to the cloud via a high-performance communication network. The proposed system architecture allows for continuous GNSS signal streaming from the antenna to the GNSS baseband unit in real-time in a cost-effective manner.

[0063] Furthermore, it is to be understood that the embodiments, realizations, and aspects described herein may be implemented by various means in hardware, software, firmware, middleware, microcode, or any combination thereof. Various aspects or features described herein may be implemented, on one hand, as a method or process or function, and on the other hand as an apparatus, a device, a system, or computer program accessible from any computer-readable device, carrier, or media. The methods or algorithms described may be embodied directly in hardware, in a software module executed by a processor, or a combination of the two.

[0064] The various means may comprise software modules residing in RAM memory, flash memory, ROM memory, EPROM memory, EEPROM memory, registers, hard disk, a removable disk, a CD-ROM, or any other form of storage medium known in the art.

[0065] The various means may comprise logical blocks, modules, and circuits may be implemented or performed with a general purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), and application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA), or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described. A general- purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but in the alternative, the processor may be any conventional processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine.

[0066] The various means may comprise computer-readable media including, but not limited to, magnetic storage devices (for example , hard disk, floppy disk, magnetic strips, etc.), optical disks (for example , compact disk (CD), digital versatile disk (DVD), etc.), smart cards, and flash memory devices (for example , EPROM, card, stick, key drive, etc.). Additionally, various storage media described herein can represent one or more devices and/or other machine-readable media for storing information. The term machine-readable medium can include, without being limited to, various media capable of storing, containing, and/or carrying instruction(s) and/or data. Additionally, a computer program product may include a computer readable medium having one or more instructions or codes operable to cause a computer to perform the functions described herein.

[0067] What has been described above includes examples of one or more embodiments. It is, of course, not possible to describe every conceivable combination, or permutation, of components and/or methodologies for purposes of describing the aforementioned embodiments. However one of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that many further combinations and permutations of various embodiments are possible within the general inventive concept derivable from a direct and objective reading of the present disclosure. Accordingly, it is intended to embrace all such alterations, modifications and variations that fall within scope of the appended claims.

[0068] In the following, further examples of the invention are provided:

A collector device for geodesic information provision, the device comprising: acquisition means configured for acquiring a GNSS signal from at least one GNSS satellite; conversion means configured for converting the GNSS signal into a digital signal; transmission means configured for transmitting the digitized GNSS signal to receiving means over an external communications channel. The device, wherein the geodesic information comprises at least one of Position- Velocity-Time, pseudorange, Doppler, phase-range, or pseudorange rate observables. The device, further comprising optical communication means for converting and transmitting the digitized GNSS signal via an optical communications channel. The device, further comprising radio frequency communication means for converting the received GNSS signal to a low intermediate frequency prior to its transmission as a digitized signal via a radio frequency communications channel.

A receiver device for geodesic information provision, the device comprising: receiving means configured for receiving, over an external communications channel, at least one digitized GNSS signal from at least one collector device; conversion means configured for converting the at least one GNSS signal to a baseband signal; processing means configured for processing the at least one baseband signal to produce geodesic information relating to the at least one collector device. The device, wherein the geodesic information comprises at least one of Position-Velocity-Time, pseudorange, Doppler, phase-range, or pseudorange rate observables. The device, wherein the device is a virtualized software-defined receiver. The device, wherein the device executes in at least one virtual machine or in at least one software container. The device, further comprising decryption means for decrypting the raw GNSS data received from the collecting device. The device of any of the preceding claims, further comprising monitoring means for communicating the devices with any other device in the internet.

A system for geodesic information provision, the system comprising: at least one collector device configured for transmitting a GNSS signal received from at least one GNSS satellite, wherein the GNSS signal comprises the raw data in digital form; at least one virtualized GNSS receiver device configured for generating geodesic information by converting the at least one GNSS signal to a baseband signal; and means for orchestrating configured for managing device communication and operation. The system, further comprising means for network control configured for the lifecycle management of virtual network function instances. The system of claim 12, further comprising means for infrastructure control configured for controlling, managing and monitoring the computational, storage and network resources of the network function virtualization system. The system, further comprising software control means for managing flow control to/from the switches/routers and to/from application and business logic. The system, wherein the means for infrastructure control comprises network orchestration means for managing the end-to-end connectivity between the collector devices and the virtualized GNSS receiving devices. The system, wherein the means for infrastructure control comprises cloud orchestration means for managing hardware and software resource allocation and usage.

A method for geodesic information provision by a collector device, the method comprising: acquiring a GNSS signal from at least one GNSS satellite; converting the GNSS signal into a digital signal; transmitting the digitized GNSS signal to receiving means over an external communications channel. The method, wherein the geodesic information comprises at least one of Position- Velocity-Time, pseudorange, Doppler, phase-range, or pseudorange rate observables. The method, further comprising converting and transmitting the digitized GNSS signal via an optical communications channel. The method, further comprising converting the received GNSS signal to a low intermediate frequency prior to its transmission as a digitized signal via a radio frequency communications channel. A method for geodesic information provision by a virtualized GNSS receiver device, the method comprising: receiving, over an external communications channel, at least one digitized GNSS signal from at least one collector device; converting the at least one GNSS signal to a baseband signal; processing the at least one baseband signal to produce geodesic information relating to the at least one collector device. The method, wherein the geodesic information comprises at least one of Position-Velocity-Time, pseudorange, Doppler, phase- range, or pseudorange rate observables. The method, wherein an instance of a virtualized software-defined receiver is generated for every collecting device. The method, wherein the virtualized software-defined receiver instance executes as a virtual machine or a software container. The method, further comprising decrypting the raw GNSS data received from the collecting device. The method, further comprising packaging and transmitting the geodesic information corresponding to a subset of collector devices to third parties. The method, further comprising determining the precise location to cm-level of a particular collector device and confirming the location to a user of the corresponding collector device. The method, further comprising determining and providing differential data to be used for highly accurate real-time corrections to third parties. The method, further comprising space-time stamping by receiving GNSS data from a user and certifying the validity of the geodesic parameters corresponding to the received data. The method, further comprising dynamically allocating resources between the collector devices and the cloud infrastructure.

A method in a system for geodesic information provision, the method comprising: transmitting, by at least one collector device, a GNSS signal received from at least one GNSS satellite, wherein the GNSS signal comprises the raw data in digital form; generating, by at least one virtualized GNSS receiver device, geodesic information by converting the at least one GNSS signal to a baseband signal; and managing device communication and operation. The method, further comprising managing the lifecycle of virtual network function instances. The method, further comprising controlling, managing and monitoring the computational, storage and network resources of the network function virtualization system. The method, further comprising managing flow control to/from the switches/routers and to/from application and business logic. The method, comprising managing the end-to-end connectivity between the collector devices and the virtualized GNSS receiving devices. The method, comprising managing hardware and software resource allocation and usage. The method, further comprising packaging and transmitting the geodesic information corresponding to a subset of collector devices to third parties. The method, further comprising determining the precise location to cm-level of a particular collector device and confirming the location to a user of the corresponding collector device. The method, further comprising determining and providing differential data to be used for highly accurate real-time corrections to third parties. The method, further comprising space-time stamping by receiving GNSS data from a user and certifying the validity of the geodesic parameters corresponding to the received data. The method, further comprising dynamically allocating resources between the collector devices and the cloud infrastructure. A computer program comprising instructions, once executed on a processor, for performing the method steps.

A computer readable medium comprising instructions, once executed on a processor, for performing the method steps of any one of claims 17 to 41 .

Claims

A collector device for geodesic infornnation provision, the device comprising: acquisition means configured for acquiring a GNSS signal from at least one GNSS satellite;

conversion means configured for converting the GNSS signal into a digital signal;

transmission means configured for transmitting the digitized GNSS signal to receiving means over an external communications channel.

The device of claim 1 , wherein the geodesic information comprises at least one of Position-Velocity-Time, pseudorange, Doppler, phase-range, or pseudorange rate observables.

The device of claim 2, further comprising optical communication means for converting and transmitting the digitized GNSS signal via an optical communications channel.

The device of claim 2, further comprising radio frequency communication means for converting the received GNSS signal to a low intermediate frequency prior to its transmission as a digitized signal via a radio frequency communications channel.

A receiver device for geodesic information provision, the device comprising: receiving means configured for receiving, over an external communications channel, at least one digitized GNSS signal from at least one collector device;

conversion means configured for converting the at least one GNSS signal to a baseband signal; processing means configured for processing the at least one baseband signal to produce geodesic information relating to the at least one collector device.

The device of claim 5, wherein the geodesic information comprises at least one of Position-Velocity-Time, pseudorange, Doppler, phase-range, or pseudorange rate observables.

The device of claim 6, wherein the device is a virtualized software- defined receiver.

The device of claim 7, wherein the device executes in at least one machine or in at least one software container.

The device of claim 7, further comprising decryption means decrypting the raw GNSS data received from the collecting device.

The device of any of the preceding claims, further comprising monitoring means for communicating the devices with any other device in the internet.

A system for geodesic information provision, the system comprising: at least one collector device according to claim 1 configured for transmitting a GNSS signal received from at least one GNSS satellite, wherein the GNSS signal comprises the raw data in digital form;

at least one virtualized GNSS receiver device according to claim 5 configured for generating geodesic information by converting the at least one GNSS signal to a baseband signal; and

means for orchestrating configured for managing device communication and operation.

12. The system of claim 1 1 , further comprising means for network control configured for the lifecycle management of virtual network function instances.

The system of claim 12, further comprising means for infrastructure control configured for controlling, managing and monitoring the computational, storage and network resources of the network function virtualization system.

The system of claim 12, further comprising software control means for managing flow control to/from the switches/routers and to/from application and business logic.

The system of claim 13, wherein the means for infrastructure control comprises network orchestration means for managing the end-to-end connectivity between the collector devices and the virtualized GNSS receiving devices.

The system of claim 13, wherein the means for infrastructure control comprises cloud orchestration means for managing hardware and software resource allocation and usage.

A method for geodesic information provision by a collector device, method comprising: acquiring a GNSS signal from at least one GNSS satellite;

converting the GNSS signal into a digital signal;

transmitting the digitized GNSS signal to receiving means over external communications channel.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the geodesic information comprises at least one of Position-Velocity-Time, pseudorange, Doppler, phase-range, or pseudorange rate observables.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising converting and transmitting the digitized GNSS signal via an optical communications channel.

20. The method of claim 18, further comprising converting the received GNSS signal to a low intermediate frequency prior to its transmission as a digitized signal via a radio frequency communications channel.

21 . A method for geodesic information provision by a virtualized GNSS receiver device, the method comprising: receiving, over an external communications channel, at least one digitized GNSS signal from at least one collector device;

converting the at least one GNSS signal to a baseband signal;

processing the at least one baseband signal to produce geodesic information relating to the at least one collector device.

22. The method of claim 21 , wherein the geodesic information comprises at least one of Position-Velocity-Time, pseudorange, Doppler, phase-range, or pseudorange rate observables.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein an instance of a virtualized software- defined receiver is generated for every collecting device.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the virtualized software-defined receiver instance executes as a virtual machine or a software container.

25. The method of claim 23, further comprising decrypting the raw GNSS data received from the collecting device.

26. The method of claim 22, further comprising packaging and transmitting the geodesic information corresponding to a subset of collector devices to third parties.

27. The method of claim 22, further comprising determining the precise location to cm-level of a particular collector device and confirming the location to a user of the corresponding collector device.

28. The method of claim 22, further comprising determining and providing differential data to be used for highly accurate real-time corrections to third parties.

29. The method of claim 22, further comprising space-time stamping by receiving GNSS data from a user and certifying the validity of the geodesic parameters corresponding to the received data.

30. The method of claim 22, further comprising dynamically allocating resources between the collector devices and the cloud infrastructure.

31 . A method in a system for geodesic information provision, the method comprising: transmitting, by at least one collector device according to claim 1 , a GNSS signal received from at least one GNSS satellite, wherein the GNSS signal comprises the raw data in digital form;

generating, by at least one virtualized GNSS receiver device according to claim 5, geodesic information by converting the at least one GNSS signal to a baseband signal; and

managing device communication and operation.

32. The method of claim 26, further comprising managing the lifecyde of virtual network function instances.

33. The method of claim 27, further comprising controlling, managing and monitoring the computational, storage and network resources of the network function virtualization system.

34. The method of claim 27, further comprising managing flow control to/from the switches/routers and to/from application and business logic.

35. The method of claim 28, comprising managing the end-to-end connectivity between the collector devices and the virtualized GNSS receiving devices.

36. The method of claim 28, comprising managing hardware and software resource allocation and usage.

37. The method of claim 32, further comprising packaging and transmitting the geodesic information corresponding to a subset of collector devices to third parties.

38. The method of claim 32, further comprising determining the precise location to cm-level of a particular collector device and confirming the location to a user of the corresponding collector device.

39. The method of claim 32, further comprising determining and providing differential data to be used for highly accurate real-time corrections to third parties.

40. The method of claim 32, further comprising space-time stamping by receiving GNSS data from a user and certifying the validity of the geodesic parameters corresponding to the received data.

41 The method of claim 32, further comprising dynamically allocating resources between the collector devices and the cloud infrastructure.

42. A computer program comprising instructions, once executed on a processor, for performing the method steps of any one of claims 17 to 41 .

43. A computer readable medium comprising instructions, once executed on a processor, for performing the method steps of any one of claims 17 to 41 .