Electromagnetic Interference From Consumer Electronics on GNSS Performance in Smartphones

This paper explores the impact of electromagnetic interference (EMI) from consumer electronics and common household appliance on the performance of GNSS receivers in smartphones. As GNSS signals are weak and susceptible to external noise, consumer appliances can introduce spurious emissions near GNSS frequency bands, leading to signal degradation. To investigate this, we conducted a series of controlled experiments simulating typical smartphone usage in proximity to different sources of EMI among household appliances and consumer electronics (a microwave oven, a Wi-Fi router, and Bluetooth accessories such as gimbal and earphones). Our analysis reveals that the microwave oven can induce severe GNSS signal degradation, with substantial AGC and C/N0 drops and significant satellite availability loss, particularly in close-range configurations.Additionally, Wi-Fi interference resulted in moderate reductions in signal quality and limited - but non-negligible - inaccuracies in position estimates. In contrast, Bluetooth exhibited negligible effects under tested conditions. These findings suggest potential implications for indoor navigation applications and underscore the importance of further improvements in interference mitigation for consumer GNSS devices.