Navigation sensors and systems in GNSS degraded and denied environments

Position, velocity, and timing(PVT) signals from the Global Positioning System(GPS)are used throughout the world but the availability and reliability of these signals in all environments has become a subject of concern for both civilian and military applications. This presentation summarizes recent advances in navigation sensor technology, including GPS, inertial, and other navigation aids that address these concerns. Also addressed are developments in sensor integration technology with several examples described, including the Bluefin-21 system mechanization.     

NAVSAT: A Global Satellite Based Navigation System

The NAVSAT concept, developed by the European Space Agency, in close cooperation with the industries and user organizations has been conceived to fulfill the civilian user requirements for a better navigation capability and mobile communication needs in the future. In selecting the NAVSAT architecture, special care has been devoted to different satellite constellation alternatives in order to identify the most promising solution in terms of navigation performance and system cost. The paper describes the present NAVSAT baseline and status. This baseline while offering precise navigation performance comparable or better than GPS, cuts significantly the overall cost of a satellite navigation system. The particular constellation selected is also easing the set up of the integrated navigation-communications-search and rescue service.     

GPS III system operations concepts

Over the past three years, the Lockheed Martin GPS III team has analyzed potential operational concepts for the Air Force. The completed tasks support the government's objective of a "realizable and operationally feasible" US Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM) and Air Force Space Command (AFSPC) concept of operations. This paper provides an overview of the operational improvements for the command and control of satellites, the provision of safe, precise navigation and timing services to end-users. The GPS III system changes existing operational paradigms. Improved operator capabilities are enabled by a new high-speed uplink/downlink and crosslink communication architecture. Continuous connectivity allows operators a "contact one satellite - contact all satellites" concept enabling near-real-time navigation updates and telemetry monitoring. This paper describes potential improvements for the following operations: constellation monitoring, command and control, navigation upload monitoring, global service monitoring, global service prediction, civilian navigation (CNAV) messaging, and anomaly detection and resolution. This paper also describes future operational improvements as GPS applications continue to proliferate and the need for an improved infrastructure to effectively manage all the systems that affect GPS service grows     

Spacecraft orbit determination using GPS navigation solutions

The orbit determination using the GPS navigation solutions for the KOMPSAT-1 spacecraft has been studied. The Cowell method of special perturbation theories was employed to develop a precision orbit propagation, and the perturbations due to geopotential, the gravity of the Sun and the Moon, solid Earth tides, ocean tides, the Earth's dynamic polar motion, solar radiation pressure, and atmospheric drag were modeled. Specifically, the satellite box-wing macro model was applied to minimize the drag errors at low altitude. The estimation scheme consisted of an extended Kalman filter and Bayesian least square method. To investigate the applicability of the method to the KOMPSAT-1 spacecraft, the orbit determination was accomplished using the GPS navigation solutions for the TOPEX/POSEIDON and TAOS satellites. The orbit determination results were compared with NASA POE generated by global laser tracking. The position and velocity accuracy was estimated about 16∼7 m and 0.0157∼0.0074 m·s⁻¹ RMS, respectively, for the two satellites in the presence of SA. These results verify that an orbit determination scheme using GPS navigation solutions can provide the static orbit information and reduce conspicuously the position and velocity errors of navigation solutions. It can be suggested that the sequential and batch orbit determination using the GPS navigation solutions be the most appropriate method in the KOMPSAT-1 type mission.     

差分GPS的原理和实现方法

GPS卫星无线电导航系统预计在1995年投入正式运行。GPS信号中的P码仅供美军和特别用户使用,C/A码则向全世界民用开放。C/A码受选择可用性(SA)影响,导航静度下降到一个适当水平。为提高GPS定位精度,各国都争相研究差分GPS(DGPS)。本文从GPS误差入手,主要就DGPS原理和实现方法进行讨论。     

一种适用于跑步状态的惯性/零速/GPS室内外无缝组合导航定位方法

目前,行人导航定位技术已经深入社会的众多领域,受到诸多学者的广泛关注。针对行人跑步状态,研究了一种惯性/零速/GPS室内外无缝组合导航定位方法。首先提出了可靠的、适用于行人跑步零速检测的方法,有效提高了在行人跑步状态下的零速检测的准确性。针对GPS信号容易受到高楼、高架等环境的干扰及在室内容易完全丢失的特点,提出了基于BP神经网络的GPS可用信号筛选方法,提高了GPS信息的可靠性与精准性。在此基础上,研究了基于可变量测的Kalman滤波器,实现了惯性/零速/GPS信息的有效融合,显著提高了在行人跑步状态下的导航定位精度。试验结果表明,所提出的这种适用于跑步状态的惯性/零速/GPS室内外无缝组合导航定位方法的平均定位误差可减小到行人跑步总里程的1%以内。     

Sole means navigation in US Navy aircraft

The current edition of the US Federal Radionavigation Plan, issued in 1984, presents a consolidated federal plane on the management of those radionavigation systems which are used by both the civilian and military sectors. It states the US Dept. of Defense (DoD) goal to phase out the use of TACAN, VOR/DME, OMEGA, LORAN C, and TRANSIT in military platforms and for Global Positioning System (GPS) to become the standard radionavigation system for DoD. This would eliminate all the current sole-means air navigation systems (TACAN and VOR/DME) aboard military aircraft. Instrument Flight Rule (IFR) operations within controlled airspace requires an operating sole-means air navigation system to be aboard the aircraft. The authors investigate the requirements for GPS certification as a sole means air navigation system in the US National Airspace System (NAS); discuss the implication for GPS user equipment (UE) hardware and software; describe the actual UE implementation; and discuss approaches for UE integration with flight instruments on US Navy aircraft     

地磁辅助的无缝INS/GPS组合导航研究

INS/GPS组合导航已经成为当前无人机导航系统的主要实现形式,由于GPS信号容易受到干扰,在恶劣的电磁环境下信号易丢失,从而导致GPS卫星信号失锁而无法使用。地磁导航作为一种无源导航方法,其难以受到外界干扰且具有较强的自主性,从而为克服GPS在干扰情况下无法对INS误差实现持续无缝修正的不足提供了很好的途径。针对INS/GPS组合导航中GPS卫星信号失锁的情况,设计提出了使用地磁匹配导航进行辅助实现无人机无缝导航的实现方案,设计了基于地磁特征的地磁匹配算法和地磁匹配辅助的INS/GPS组合无缝自主导航算法,并通过仿真验证了采用地磁匹配辅助导航方法,可以在GPS无效的情况下,实现对INS导航误差的持续无缝修正,从而提高导航系统性能。     

CALCM-the untold story of the weapon used to start the Gulf War

The Conventional Air Launched Cruise Missile (CALCM) was developed from the strategic ALCM, AGM-86, by integrating GPS navigation into the missile in place of terrain correlation (TERCOM). In addition, the nuclear warhead was replaced by conventional explosives. The CALCM was developed, tested, and fielded in a single year (mid-1986-mid-1987) by the Boeing Company where the author was then employed. Although the GPS technology used, a Rockwell single channel aided receiver, has been eclipsed by newer receivers with additional capabilities and newer technology, many innovative things were done in completing the CALCM integration: the external loading of almanac data along with other mission data, three satellite navigation capability, and the use of a single channel receiver in a dynamic flight environment. This effort demonstrated that GPS outputs can be integrated quickly into an existing weapon system using the traditional loosely coupled “cascaded filter” approach. Although this approach is not as ideal as a tightly coupled integration using raw GPS data, the use of cascaded filters resulted in a weapon that was able to be rapidly fielded. The Air Force had sufficient confidence in the missile, that after four years of operational testing, 35 of these missiles were targeted at key sites at the start of the Gulf War in 1991. This effort, which was declassified in 1992, resulted in the first weapon in the DoD inventory to be operational using GPS navigation. The effort deserves consideration as a model as to how GPS integration can be performed     

带FDI算法的无人机组合导航姿态确定控制系统设计

无人机导航系统的作用是提供导航数据给飞控计算机作为制导和控制用,因为飞控计算机的性能在很大程度上依赖于导航数据,导航系统的某一个错误可能会导致整个无人机的失败,因此,导航系统应具有故障检测和隔离(FDI)算法,介绍了一种用于无人机导航的FDI和低成本的组合导航系统,硬件包括低成本商业用MEMSIMU、GPS接收器、磁力计和导航计算机,软件包括带FDI算法的卡尔曼滤波。     

Integration of GPS and low cost INS for pedestrian navigation aided by building layout

In outdoor environments, GPS is often used for pedestrian navigation by utilizing its signals for position computation, but in indoor or semi-obstructed environments, GPS signals are often unavailable. Therefore, pedestrian navigation for these environments should be realized by the integration of GPS and inertial navigation system （INS）. However, the lowcost INS could induce errors that may result in a large position drift. The problem can be minimized by mounting the sensors on the pedestrian＇s foot, using zero velocity update （ZUPT） method with the standard navigation algorithm to restrict the error growth. However, heading drift still remains despite using ZUPT measurements since the heading error is unobservable. Also, tbot mounted INS suffers from the initialization ambiguity of position and heading from GPS. In this paper, a novel algorithm is developed to mitigate the heading drift problem when using ZUPT. The method uses building lay- out to aid the heading measurement in Kalman filter, and it could also be combined for the initial- ization. The algorithm has been investigated with real field trials using the low cost Microstrain 3DM-GX3-25 inertial sensor, a Leica GS10 GPS receiver and a uBlox EVK-6T GPS receiver. It could be concluded that the proposed method offers a significant improvement in position accuracy for the long period, allowing pedestrian navigation for nearly40 min with mean position error less than 2.8 m. This method also has a considerable effect on the accuracy of the initialization.     

GPS/SINS超紧组合导航的性能分析

GPS接收机在高动态环境下很容易失锁,特别是载体的高动态造成的应力对接收机载波跟踪环影响很大。为了解决高动态环境下的组合导航,分析了GPS接收机载波跟踪环的测量误差和跟踪门限,采用惯导速度辅助GPS接收机跟踪环路的超紧组合结构。超紧组合需要涉及到GPS接收机跟踪环内部编排及高动态环境下的实验数据,难度较大。针对超紧组合仿真专门开发了GPS实时软件接收机、高动态GPS中频信号仿真器和惯导模拟器并构建了一个完整的GPS/SINS超紧组合仿真系统。仿真结果表明,该超紧组合导航系统可以跟踪50g的加速度和10倍音速。     

Cycle-slip Detection of GPS Carrier Phase with Methodology of SA4 Multi-wavelet Transform

That cycle-slips remain undetected will significantly degrade the accuracy of the navigation solution when using carrier phase measurements in global positioning system (GPS). In this paper, an algorithm based on length-4 symmetric/anti-symmetric (SA4) orthogonal multi-wavelet is presented to detect and identify cycle-slips in the context of the feature of the GPS zero-differential carrier phase measurements. Associated with the local singularity detection principle, cycle-slips can be detected and located precisely through the modulus maxima of the coefficients achieved by the multi-wavelet transform. Firstly, studies are focused on the feasibility of the algorithm employing the orthogonal multi-wavelet system such as Geronimo-Hardin-Massopust (GHM), Chui-Lian (CL) and SA4. Moreover, the mathematical characterization of singularities with Lipschitz exponents is explained, the modulus maxima from wavelet to multi-wavelet domain is extended and a localization formula is provided from the modulus maxima of the coefficients to the original observation. Finally, field experiments with real receiver are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm. Because SA4 possesses the specific nature of good multi-filter properties (GMPs), it is superior to scalar wavelet and other orthogonal multi-wavelet candidates distinctly, and for the half-cycle slip, it also remains better detection, location ability and the equal complexity of wavelet transform.     

Ensuring GPS navigation integrity using receiver autonomousintegrity monitoring

The many advantages of Global Positioning System (GPS) based navigation have created a tremendous amount of interest in using GPS as the primary navigation aid onboard commercial and civil aircraft. Even in the presence of Selective Availability, the accuracy of GPS is sufficient to guide aircraft point-to-point between airports without requiring other navigation aids such as VOR or DME. Unfortunately, there is a finite probability that a GPS satellite will fail, causing the transmission of potentially misleading navigation information. Thus, before GPS can be widely adopted as a navigation aid, techniques must be devised to detect any possible failures and notify the user prior to the degradation of navigation accuracy. This paper discusses the problem of detecting possible GPS satellite failures using a technique called Receiver Autonomous Integrity Monitoring (RAIM)     

一种对GPS/INS组合导航的曳引式拉偏干扰

为解决GPS/INS组合导航对抗难题,提出一种针对GPS/INS组合导航的曳引式拉偏干扰方法。通过干扰设备产生欺骗干扰信号,使GPS/INS组合中的GPS接收机输出与其实际位置逐渐偏离的导航定位数据,当偏离误差无法被组合导航纠正时发生曳引式拉偏干扰。文中给出干扰方法的定义、信号形式、简化形式,通过半实物仿真实验证明其有效性并对其干扰效果进行了分析。     

Online INS/GPS integration with a radial basis function neural network

Most of the present navigation systems rely on Kalman filtering to fuse data from global positioning system (GPS) and the inertial navigation system (INS). In general, INS/GPS integration provides reliable navigation solutions by overcoming each of their shortcomings, including signal blockage for GPS and growth of position errors with time for INS. Present Kalman filtering INS/GPS integration techniques have some inadequacies related to the stochastic error models of inertial sensors, immunity to noise, and observability. This paper aims to introduce a multi-sensor system integration approach for fusing data from INS and GPS utilizing artificial neural networks (ANN). A multi-layer perceptron ANN has been recently suggested to fuse data from INS and differential GPS (DGPS). Although being able to improve the positioning accuracy, the complexity associated with both the architecture of multi-layer perceptron networks and its online training algorithms limit the real-time capabilities of this technique. This article, therefore, suggests the use of an alternative ANN architecture. This architecture is based on radial basis function (RBF) neural networks, which generally have simpler architecture and faster training procedures than multi-layer perceptron networks. The INS and GPS data are first processed using wavelet multi-resolution analysis (WRMA) before being applied to the RBF network. The WMRA is used to compare the INS and GPS position outputs at different resolution levels. The RBF-ANN module is then trained to predict the INS position errors and provide accurate positioning of the moving platform. Field-test results have demonstrated that substantial improvement in INS/GPS positioning accuracy could be obtained by applying the combined WRMA and RBF-ANN modules.     

GPS/BDS组合定位精度分析

随着定位技术的不断发展及多系统导航定位技术的逐步推广,多系统组合导航定位已经成为了GNSS导航定位领域中的主要发展趋势。主要阐述了GPS/BDS组合相对定位的观测方程和数学模型,并根据实测数据对比分析,从卫星可见性、精度因子、定位精度和均方根误差等方面对GPS、BDS及GPS/BDS组合定位系统的定位性能、定位精度进行了比较。研究结果表明,较单一的GPS和BDS系统定位,采用GPS/BDS组合定位可有效提高卫星可见数目和DOP值,且稳定性更好。GPS/BDS组合定位的定位精度也明显优于单一系统,这对GNSS高精度导航定位具有重要的参考价值。     

低成本多传感器组合导航系统在小型无人机自主飞行中的研究与应用

为了满足小型无人机自主控制系统对导航系统性能的要求,研究低成本的基于微机电系统的捷联惯性导航系统(MEMS-SINS)/全球定位系统(GPS)/磁强计组合导航系统。提出一种利用磁强计辅助MEMS-SINS的静基座初始姿态确定方法,采用四元数误差模型对MEMS-SINS/GPS/磁强计组合导航系统进行信息融合的建模,采用基于正交三角(QR)分解的平方根无色卡尔曼滤波(UKF)非线性估计方法对组合导航系统进行数据融合,克服由于计算机舍入误差引起的状态协方差阵的计算值失去非负定性甚至对称性,通过小型无人机的自主飞行试验,证实MEMS-SINS/GPS/磁强计组合导航算法满足小型无人机自主控制系统的要求。     

INTEGRATED GPS/INS OF PSEUDO-RANGE DELTA-RANGE SEMI-PHYSICAL SIMULATION'S RESEARCH

In order to further study the performance of tightly integrated navigation system of GPS/INS, a semi-physical simulation of tightly coupled system has been done based on the data gathered from the experiment of integrated system of GPS and INS. The closed-loop Kalman Filter and U-D discompose algorithm have been used. The simulation results associated to four integrated models of pseudo-range, delta-range, pseudo-range and delta-range alternation, and pseudo-range and delta-range synthesis have been provided, and the actual effects of variously integrated models have been analyzed. The results show that the pseudo-range and delta-range synthesis coupled model is the most effective to improve the coupled system performance and the individual delta-range coupled model had better be avoided in application.