Cross coupled positioning engine (pe) architecture for sensor integration in global navigation satellite system (gnss)

A data processing engine for processing data within a Positioning System (GPS), the engine comprising:

• a first input for receiving an acceleration profile from a separate engine;
• a second input for receiving a positioning data;
• an output;
• a memory coded with firmware;
• and
• a fixed architecture circuit coupled to at least one of the first input, the second input, the output, and the memory, wherein the fixed architecture circuit computes at least one of a velocity vector data and a position vector data from the satellite data and the acceleration profile.

A GPS receiver for processing data signals to determine position or velocity, the receiver comprising:

• an antenna for receiving satellite information for use in an algorithm to determine position and velocity;
• a plurality of data-processing engines coupled to each other;
• and
• wherein at least two of the plurality of data-processing engines perform receiver autonomous integrity monitoring (RAIM) of the satellite information in parallel.

A GPS system comprising:

• at least one transmitter;
• a receiver unit configured to receive a signal from at least one transmitter (satellite);
• wherein the receiver unit is comprised of:
• a first data-processing engine having an input to receive a satellite information for use in determining the position or the velocity of the receiver;
• and
• a second data-processing engine coupled to the first data-processing engine, wherein the second data-processing engine has an input to receive at least a fraction of the satellite information (fraction) in parallel to the first data-processing engine, and wherein the second data-processing engine processes the satellite data for calculating an acceleration profile data.

A method of processing sensor data in a data processing engine having a processor coupled to a memory, an input and an output, the method comprising:

• receiving sensor data at the input of the data processing engine;
• calculating an acceleration profile;
• and
• receiving at least a fraction of satellite information from a plurality of GPS satellites at the input of the processing engine.

A method of calculating a position and velocity data in a data processing engine having an ASIC coupled to a memory and to an input and output, the method comprising:

• receiving satellite information of ephemerides from a plurality of GPS satellites at the input of the data processing engine;
• receiving a net acceleration profile data at the input of the processing engine;
• and
• calculating an updated position and velocity data from the satellite information and the net acceleration profile data.

A method of reprogramming a GPS receiver having a fixed architecture engine coupled to a reprogrammable engine, the method comprising:

• receiving at the programmable engine portion of the receiver, one item selected from a group consisting of:
• a modified algorithm, a modified sensor type of data, a modified sensor configuration information, and a combination of any of these items;
• reprogramming the programmable engine to perform one item selected from a group consisting of:
• the modified algorithm, the modified sensor type of data, the modified sensor configuration information, and the combination of any of these items;
• and
• substantially maintaining an architecture or firmware configuration of the fixed architecture engine to maintain the qualification status without needing to requalify.