Lange Electronic
Efficiently Delivering Precise Timing and GNSS Simulation

With the continuous development in the field of global navigation satellite system (GNSS) and related technologies, performance testing of navigation receivers has become a key focus of the satellite navigation industry. The testing plays a crucial role in providing positioning services for numerous applications such as navigation and location-based services (LBS) worldwide. Not only is GNSS valuable in location and mapping, but it also provides positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) to keep a precise timestamp that helps synchronize telecommunications, energy, automotive, and financial services networks. Moreover, such capabilities and real-life application of the technology has ultimately increased the need for robust simulation methods to simulate real satellite signals and provide a stable and accurate testing environment for GNSS receiver performance testing. Enter Lange-Electronic. For over 40 years, the company has been developing, producing, and offering systems that generate, distribute, simulate, display or evaluate precise signals. “Our strength is our ability to understand the complete situation of the customer and find a technical solution that really meets their requirements,” says Werner Lange (Founder), the founder of Lange-Electronic.

While it is quite evident that GNSS simulation has changed a lot during the last decade, organizations have placed their confidence in Lange-Electronic for the entirety of its evolution. In the past, the company had been asked to work on new GNSS-receiver designs, perform lab tests and predict GNSS reception to show the correct positions. Currently, several research institutes are testing GNSS receivers in a completely new environment. For instance, satellite makers would usually test a complete satellite mock-up for 10 to 20 days in a space-like environment. Lange-Electronic’s GNSS simulator changes the game here, with its solution to virtually recreate the signals in satellite operations.

By producing signals that enable the receiver in the satellite to think as it is revolving around the earth, the Lange-Electronic system can create a simulation that can specify a certain height on track Y in Z hours for 16 days.

Adding to that, the simulators are made by Spirent Communications PLC and Lange-Electronic plays a critical role as a Spirent rep in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The company’s GNSS simulation partner Spirent can transmit actual satellite navigation signals of various GNSSs at a particular point in time at a particular location. Lange-Electronic’s simulators are powered with software packages that can effectively create realistic scenarios of landscapes or cities where routes can be driven or flown. Their navigation device is located in a shielded test laboratory and can simulate poor signal reception resulting from obstacles such as mountains, houses or bridges. For example, Switzerland is known for its natural beauty and is hailed as a global tourist destination. The landscape is excellent for holidays but not the most ideal for testing Air Force equipment. To answer these predicaments, Lange-Electronics had delivered unto them a simulation system that could test the navigation equipment in their military aircraft, flying, landing and restarting across the mountains. The company’s experts helped them with detailed training sessions to program the test routines for testing the onboard equipment for their different aircraft.

Today the company has branched out from its roots in the satellite industry, and is venturing into the highly proactive automotive industry, to integrate advanced sensors makes vehicle test set-ups more complex. With the growing demand for HWIL (hardware in the loop) testing and more realistic testing of multipath and obscuration factors on connected autonomous vehicles, Lange-Electronic is perfectly poised to tackle every challenge. In one instance, Lange-Electronic assisted an organization regarded as one of the market leaders in car electronics (engine control and navigation) in Germany. The client was looking for simulation equipment for a large order from one of the "high-class" car manufacturers. Lange-Electronic provided a set of test systems, each equipped with precisely what they required at the specific test station. Moreover, every single unit could be changed to work at other stations as well. If one of the systems came up with a problem, then another system could replace it immediately. It was mainly because the basic software was identical that the hardware/software upgrades could be done within minutes to fulfil the needs at the new station.

Having demonstrated such all-round capabilities, Lange-Electronic has always focused on understanding their customers' problems and challenges. "To be honest, that is the main difference between our competitors and us. We are experienced consultants and help our customers chose the appropriate system and assist them to set it up. We do not see ourselves as salespersons, rather as problem-solvers in the market," concludes Lange.