SBIR/STTR Award attributes
Our “end vision” for the effort is a soldier-worn or vehicle-mounted device which is capable of providing GPS-quality position and timing information from sources independent of GNSS to serve as test range instrumentation for testing of devices and systems equipped to operate in GPS-denied environments. The key innovations in our proposed Augmented Positioning System (APS) device are 1) the use of LEO satellite transmissions measurements from the in-commercial service Globalstar network and DTED-calibrated barometric data combined with traditional non-RF measurements (IMU, compass, etc.) to produce high quality position/navigation/timing (PNT) data independent of any GNSS sources, and 2) the availability of an existing hardware device capable of meeting the stringent size/weight/power/cost (SWaP-C) requirements (see dismount device in figure below). The use of Globalstar downlink transmissions and Defense Terrain Elevation Data (DTED) data eliminates the need to deploy additional infrastructure at the test sites, and the availability of an existing hardware device provides a means to supply the APS to test ranges on an accelerated schedule.
