To further the development of the Quazi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS) program, the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has selected Spirent Communications' testing solutions to verify performance of its satellite receivers.

Responsible for the development of initial QZSS receivers, JAXA is using Spirent's GSS8000 Multi-GNSS Constellation Simulator to verify QZSS receiver performance.

The highly elliptical orbits of QZSS allow satellites to dwell at high elevations, improving coverage in urban canyons and providing additional overhead ranging sources in Japan.

JAXA needed to design receivers that supported multiple satellite technologies. To that end, it turned to Spirent for a solution that not only included testing capabilities for GPS at L1, L2 and L5 signals but also tested performance of QZSS signals at the same frequencies.

"Spirent GNSS simulators are the first choice of commercial and government organizations to evaluate navigation and positioning system performance," said John Pottle, marketing director at Spirent's Positioning and Navigation business.

"Our engagement with JAXA will enable the agency to play a critical role in QZSS receiver development work."

The Spirent simulator includes a wide range of software modeling capability to enable the receivers to be tested under extreme and error conditions as well as in normal performance test cases.