Continuous Reproducibility in GNSS Signal Processing

Abstract

This paper discusses the reproducibility of scientific experiments in which global navigation satellite system (GNSS) signals play a role. After analyzing the factors that impact the reproducibility of an experiment in the given context, this paper proposes a methodology that, leveraging on software containerization technologies and the best practices from professional software development, ensures the automated reproduction of scientific experiments involving GNSS data and software-defined GNSS receivers, including the generation of figures or tables of a research publication, while fostering scientific collaboration and contributing to mitigate the effects of software aging in mutating computer environments. In order to show a practical implementation of the proposed work flow, the authors propose a simple experiment based on a freely available open source software-defined receiver and the automation of its execution in a popular online platform.