Jackson Labs offers miniature STL LEO receiver

The STL-2600 STL-capable receiver provides a GNSS-independent low SWaP-C UTC-time and location capability

Jackson Labs Technologies Inc. (JLT), a designer and manufacturer of GNSS, timing and frequency equipment, has announced the availability of the STL-2600 Satellite Timing and Location (STL) receiver designed in partnership with Satelles Inc., the STL service provider.

The STL-2600 commercial receiver provides a completely GNSS-independent, low-cost capability to generate UTC nanosecond timing and meters-accurate positioning anywhere in the world. It operates in a way similar to GPS, but without GPS or GNSS. The STL signal has 30-db (1,000 times) higher power compared to GPS signals, allowing the receiver to operate deep indoors independent of any GPS/GNSS signal.

“Useful for non-GNSS-based E911 location and UTC(NIST) timing applications, the STL-2600 receiver is deployable today to fulfill critical infrastructure PNT objectives such as those outlined in Executive Order 13905 on the responsible use of PNT in the U.S. and the emerging mandates for a GNSS-independent backup solution in Europe,” said Said Jackson, president of JLT.

The STL-2600 receiver is also useful in marine applications where GNSS signals are regularly denied or manipulated and for stationary high-accuracy timing applications such as 5G.

The STL-2600 receiver can be directly connected to JLT’s GPS Transcoder products for glue-less retrofit capability of existing customer legacy GPS-only receiver systems to Galileo, GLONASS, BeiDou, QZSS and SBAS as well as adding the STL and optional atomic holdover capability to these legacy systems.

The receiver module combines a custom-designed STL L1 LEO receiver and a latest-generation concurrent-GNSS receiver with a disciplined high-stability reference oscillator sub-system on one circuit board.

Features and specifications of the STL-2600

Photo: JLT

Form factor: 1.4″ x 2.0″ x 0.5″ (36mm x 51 mm x 13mm)

Switching modes: User-selectable automatic and manual switching between GNSS and STL signal reception during jamming or manipulation events

Integration: Incorporates into user systems just like a legacy GNSS receiver would using NMEA and SCPI serial messages, with the use of standard NMEA messages for STL positioning and timing features making system integration trivially easy

Oscillator options and performance: Internal high-stability TXCO standard; capable of directly and gluelessly disciplining numerous optional DOCXO, CSAC and rubidium oscillators for holdover capability, with ultra-stable ADEV performance from 0.1s to infinity with better than 10E-12 stability when using a DOCXO or Rubidium as the holdover oscillator

Low-power consumption: Ranges between 0.7 W to 1.45 W (depending on configuration) allowing for long-term battery operation for use cases without AC power

Antenna support: One GNSS/STL combined standard; optional support of a second antenna for diversity

Interfaces: TTL serial port standard; optional USB serial port allow easy evaluation and design-in

Upgrades: One-button firmware updates performed in situ through any of the serial ports

The receiver includes JLT’s proven frequency and timing disciplining and holdover IP deeply embedded into the entire signal chain for ultra-low phase noise performance and high-stability 1PPS and 10 MHz operation, even when using only the built-in TCXO oscillator.

The unit operates fully autonomously from just a USB cable and is compatible with a customized version of the GPSCon software — offered at no cost to JLT customers — for monitoring and control.

The STL signal has been deployed worldwide since 2016 and can be evaluated and implemented SWaP-C-effectively today via this receiver module.

The STL-2600 is available now. Contact Jackson Labs Technologies for configuration and pricing information.