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With over 40 new open source organizations participating in this year’s Google Summer of Code, we are excited to introduce a few every Friday in our weekly blog series. This week we have 3 organizations, GNSS-SDR, PRISM and HISP, all describing their student’s projects below. 

GNSS-SDR is an open source Global Navigation Satellite Systems software receiver, written in C++, that is able to work either from raw signal samples stored in a file, or in real-time with a radio-frequency front-end as a signal source. Its modularity allows users to populate the framework with their own algorithms, allowing them to put the focus on the signal processing implementation without worrying about how to embed that algorithm in a whole GNSS receiver. It also allows for fair performance benchmarks using real GNSS signals, and its open source license allows free downloading, use and code inspection.

This summer we are thrilled to be part of the Google Summer of Code program, and to have three talented students on board that aim to improve the existing features of the software receiver.  

• Development of new blocks for Galileo E1 civil signals, by Mara Branzanti. With the advent of new in-orbit satellites, the landscape of GNSS is rapidly changing. Currently, the open source GNSS-SDR can acquire, track, decode and produce PVT solutions considering only GPS signals. The aim of this project is to implement add-ons for Galileo satellites, developing new blocks to decode Galileo navigation messages, generate observables and compute PVT solutions using both Galileo E1 and GPS L1 C/A signals. 

• Improve the acquisition sensitivity, by Marc Molina. The acquisition stage of a GNSS receiver is in charge of detecting the set of visible satellites and providing a first coarse estimation of some essential parameters for synchronization. This process requires a blind search that significantly limits the sensitivity of the whole receiver operation. The goal of this project is to implement high sensitivity acquisition algorithms for both GPS L1 and Galileo E1 signals. 

• GNSS-SDR goes SBAS, by Daniel Fehr. Currently, there are three Supporting Satellite Based Augmentation Systems (SBAS) deployed: EGNOS, WAAS and MSAS. These systems provide the GNSS receiver with additional information which allows it to validate the received GPS navigation signals and to compensate for errors. Daniel’s project will enable SBAS compatibility for GNSS-SDR to increase its positioning accuracy and trustiness.

By Carles Fernandez-Prades, GNSS-SDR Organization Administrator

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PRISM is a software tool for modelling and studying the behaviour of real-life systems whose behaviour exhibits unpredictability or randomness. It can be used to analyze everything from the reliability of distributed filing systems, to the performance of a Bluetooth-enabled wireless device, to the safety of a car's airbag control system. PRISM has been used by researchers worldwide in fields as diverse as quantum cryptography, systems biology, computer security and robotics. 

For Google Summer of Code 2013, we have two students working on PRISM: Alessandro Bruni, who is developing methods to analyze stochastic games; and Proteek Roy, who is implementing techniques for the generation and presentation of control strategies for probabilistic models. 

By Dave Parker, PRISM Organization Administrator

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HISP (Health Information Systems Programme) is a global south-south-north collaborative network aiming to improve healthcare in developing countries through research and implementation of Health Information Systems. Coordinated by the Global Infrastructures Research Group at the Department of Informatics of the University of Oslo, the network has been involved in many countries in the "Global South" since 1994. At the core of the program is the development of the open source DHIS software and the use of this application to strengthen country health information systems. The DHIS 2 software is used in more than 30 countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the South Pacific. We are involved in multidisciplinary research with a focus on action-research with 6 professors, about 40 active PhD students, many masters students and many software developers from different implementing organizations worldwide. 

We have four very bright students for the summer. Their student projects include: building an Android-based application for community health workers (Araz Abishov), a voice-based reminder system for inviting people into clinics (Florian Cech), a metadata import/export system (Rosu Ovidiu) and a smartphone analytics and visualization tool for data managers (Yuriy Bugryn). 

By Saptarshi Purkayastha, HISP Organization Administrator

These are only a few of the new organizations participating this year in Google Summer of Code; stay tuned next week when we highlight three more new organizations. A complete list of the 177 organizations mentoring students this year and the program timeline are available on the Google Summer of Code program site.

By Stephanie Taylor, Open Source Programs