
In figure 6, it is also possible to see the period
timing that caused the incorrect synchronization
with a timing other than that for station A to be
a sub-reception station completely separate from
station A, referred to here as station B. This IC
is thus able, in this manner, to acquire data from
both stations when the tuning is switched
between station A and station B without any
special control operations. In this case, it is
necessary for there to be temporary block
synchronization with station B, and this allows
us to apply this operation to the case of data
reception for VICS data (main station A) and
dGPS data (sub-station B). In figure 6, the
temporarily received data for station B can be
acquired as post-horizontal correction output
data, which is a real-time output, and the station
A data can be acquired as fully decoded data in
the post-vertical correction data.
Control method
This section presents an example of a possible flow of control.
First, the application detects the frame phase difference between the VICS station and the dGPS station, and then sets
the tuning control start timing based on that phase difference. The frame synchronization forward protection count is
set to at least 3, and the block synchronization back protection count is set to 2. Since BLK_RST, which only resets the
block synchronization circuit, is used, there is no need to modify the block synchronization forward protection count.
Note that these settings can be replaced by the default settings used by this IC.
When the BLK_RST is cleared after tuning the dGPS station, the IC starts block synchronization pull in, and after the
time corresponding to the block synchronization back protection count has passed, block synchronization with the dGPS
station data will be established. The post-horizontal correction output data (data for which status bit 7 (VH) is 0) that is
output from this point will be data received from the dGPS station.
After acquiring the stipulated number of packets of data, the application sets BLK_RST valid again, and tunes back to the
VICS station. If the dGPS station reception conditions are unluckily unfavorable, it will not be possible to establish block
synchronization, or it may not be possible to acquire fully corrected packet data. However, even if such conditions occur,
the receiver must tune back to the VICS station after receiving the stipulated number of packets of data. The reason is
that if the receiver did not do so, it would become impossible to completely decode the data in vertical correction for the
VICS station itself, which is the main station being received. Since the ability of vertical correction to correct burst errors
is about 10 packets, this sequence of tuning and data acquisition operations must completed within 10 packets. If that
condition is met, it will be possible to decode the VICS station data. However, this is only possible when there are no
packets that cannot be corrected other than those missed during the sequence of the simultaneous reception processing.
No. 6871-25/29
LC72714W
Main
reception
station A
Incorrectly
synchronized
station
or
Sub-reception
station B
Figure 6 Main Reception Station and Sub-Reception Station