System and method for dynamic voltage scaling in a GPS receiver

A method for dynamically reducing power consumption in a satellite-based navigation receiver that has a plurality of search channels clocked by an acquisition clock and powered by an acquisition supply voltage, the method comprising:

• deriving an allocated acquisition time for acquiring a navigation satellite signal in an acquisition process from performance requirements of the satellite-based navigation receiver;
• calculating a code phase/Doppler frequency search space responsive to operating conditions for searching the navigation satellite signal;
• determining a minimum number of search channels for searching the navigation satellite signal from the allocated acquisition time and the code phase/Doppler frequency search space;
• scaling a frequency of the acquisition clock to correspond to the minimum number of search channels;
• generating the acquisition supply voltage to correspond to the frequency of the acquisition clock;
• monitoring a status of the acquisition process to generate an adjusted allocated acquisition time;
• adjusting dynamically the minimum number of search channels from the adjusted allocated acquisition time;
• and
• repeating said scaling a frequency of the acquisition clock and said generating the acquisition supply voltage.

A method for dynamically reducing power consumption in a satellite-based navigation receiver that has a plurality of tracking channels clocked by a track clock and powered by a track supply voltage, the method comprising:

• determining a minimum number of tracking channels for tracking a plurality of acquired navigation satellite signals in a track process from a quality of measurement (QoM) requirement of a navigation solution;
• scaling a frequency of the track clock to correspond to the minimum number of tracking channels;
• generating the track supply voltage to correspond to the frequency of the track clock;
• updating dynamically the minimum number of tracking channels responsive to operating conditions of the satellite-based navigation receiver and a status of the track process;
• and
• repeating said scaling a frequency of the track clock and said generating the track supply voltage.

A method for dynamically reducing power consumption in a satellite-based navigation receiver that has a processor clocked by a processor clock and powered by a processor supply voltage, the method comprising:

• estimating a minimal navigation algorithm clock frequency to clock the processor for executing a navigation algorithm to generate a navigation solution responsive to a required quality of measurement (QoM) of the navigation solution;
• estimating a minimal baseband processing clock frequency to clock the processor for executing baseband processing responsive to requests from a baseband;
• estimating a minimal host interface processing clock frequency to clock the processor for executing host interface processing responsive to requests from a host processor;
• summing the minimal navigation algorithm clock frequency, the minimal baseband processing clock frequency, and the minimal host interface processing clock frequency to generate a minimal frequency of the processor clock;
• generating the processor supply voltage to correspond to the minimal frequency of the processor clock;
• calculating a measured QoM from the navigation solution;
• adjusting dynamically the minimal frequency of the processor clock so as to minimize a difference between the required QoM and the measured QoM;
• and
• repeating said summing, said generating, said calculating, and said adjusting.