Hardware for positioning applications using software defined radio : High speed interfaces with real time constraints

Abstract: This thesis has theoretically and practically evaluated interfaces between a radio front end for GPS and a mobile platform to answer the question how should this interface be designed to minimize the computational load on the platform as well as costs. Benchmarking of serial peripheral interface and a glueless one bit interface is performed on MPC5200 and OMAP 1710 running Linux operating system. The conclusion is two different design approaches, one based on serial peripheral interface and one on SDIO card. Buffer sizes in the platform and the front end is the key factor for computational load and this is discussed in detail. Also other consideration for interface design is discussed such as the implications of front end being master or slave on the bus.