GPS/INS integration on the Standoff Land Attack Missile (SLAM)

The Standoff Land Attack Missile (SLAM) is a worldwide, all-weather, precision-strike weapon system deployed from carrier-based aircraft. In the primary mode of operation, target location and other mission data are generated from intelligence sources available on the aircraft carrier and loaded into the missile prior to aircraft takeoff. After missile launch, the SLAM inertial navigation system (INS) guides the missile along the planned trajectory. Updating the missile INS from the Global Positioning System (GPS) during flight provides precise midcourse navigation and enhances target acquisition by accurate, on-target pointing of the SLAM Maverick seeker. The GPS/INS avionics and software integration used for SLAM are described in detail, along with some of the design tradeoffs that led to the approach. The avionics configuration integrates the Harpoon midcourse guidance unit, which includes a strapdown inertial sensor package and digital processor, with a Rockwell-Collins single-channel, sequential GPS receiver processor unit (RPU), a derivative of the GPS phase-III user equipment. In addition to the GPS receiver elements the RPU contains the navigation processor, which executes the SLAM navigation, Kalman filter algorithms, and other guidance algorithms including seeker pointing. Flight-test results of the SLAM GPS-aided INS are also included     

GPS Aided Inertial Navigation

The Global Positioning System is an extremely accurate satellite-based navigation system which, after its completion in 1989, will provide users worldwide, 24 hour. all weather coverage. A joint research project among Boeing, Rockwell-Collins, and Northrop has been completed in which a GPS receiver was integrated with a low-cost strap-down inertial navigation system and a flight computer. A Kalman filter in the latter allows in-fight alignment and calibration of the INS. In addition, feedback from the INS to the GPS receiver improves the system's ability to reacquire satellite signals after outages. The resulting system combines the accuracy of GPS with the jamming immunity and autonomy of inertial navigation. System tests were conducted in which a Boeing owned T-33 jet aircraft was flown through known test pattern to align and calibrate the INS. Earlier tests, including tests against an airborne jammer, were conducted in a modified passenger bus.     

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.     

DQI-NP application to the OutriderTM Tactical UnmannedAerial Vehicle (TUAV)

A wide variety of applications can benefit from integrated Inertial Navigation System/Global Positioning System (INS/GPS) technology. However, in many situations, the end user has a preference for a specific GPS receiver. Additionally, in most cases, the user does not desire to expend the time and money necessary to perform a custom INS/GPS integration, but instead wants a low-cost off-the-shelf solution. To address these applications, Boeing has developed the Digital Quartz Inertial Measurement Unit (DQI IMU)-Navigation Processor (DQI-NP) product as an extension of its Miniature Integrated GPS/INS Tactical System (MIGITS^TM) family of integrated INS/GPS products. This paper describes the DQI-NP and its application to the Outrider^TM Tactical Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (TUAV). The DQI-NP, as currently integrated into the Outrider^TM TUAV, is coupled with a custom Trimble GPS receiver combined with major embedded firmware modifications by IntegriNautics. In conjunction with differential GPS and ground based pseudolites, the overall system is intended to provide autonomous landing capability to the Outrider TUAV. DQI-NP provides an available, low-cost, commercial-off-the-shelf/non-development item (COTS/NDI) solution to a variety of commercial and military applications, of which the Outrider ^TM TUAV is an excellent example     

Balloon gravimetry using GPS and INS

Measurement of the horizontal components of gravity at altitude using balloon-borne instrumentation consisting of a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver and a strapdown inertial navigation system (INS) is discussed. GPS data are to be used primarily to determine the total inertial acceleration of the balloon, while the INS accelerometers sense all nongravitational accelerations. A covariance analysis based on the Kalman filter shows that conventional gravity estimation from GPS-aided INS data is possible only if external attitude updates are also available. An alternative technique is explored that attempts to estimate at least part of the gravitational spectrum without modeling the gravity disturbance as a state variable or relying on external attitude updates, while, at the same time, admitting uncorrected (long-wavelength) attitude errors. Simulations based on a model for typical balloon motion are used to discuss this possibility     

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     

New low cost avionics with INS/GPS for a variety of vehicles

Development of a new vehicle avionics suite is described, including integration of a low-cost, tightly-coupled integrated Inertial Navigation System/Global Positioning System (INS/GPS) to support vehicle guidance, navigation, and control (GN&C). A wide variety of next-generation low-cost launch vehicles could potentially benefit from integrated INS/GPS technology for GN&C and/or range safety applications. Coleman Aerospace Company (CAC) has developed a new low-cost avionics suite, the generic Integrated Mission Guidance & Tracking System (IMGTS), an open architecture, modular system that supports the requirements for various guidance applications and range safety tracking. As part of this development, Boeing North American, Inc. is supplying its Modular Miniature Integrated GPS/INS Tactical System (M-MIGITS^TM) Military-Off-The-Shelf (MOTS) INS/GPS product to support CAC's IMGTS GN&C     

Multi-sensor optimal data fusion for INS/GPS/SAR integrated navigation system

INS/GPS/SAR integrated navigation system represents the trend of next generation navigation systems with the high performance of independence, high precision and reliability. This paper presents a new multi-sensor data fusion methodology for INS/GPS/SAR integrated navigation systems. This methodology combines local decentralized fusion with global optimal fusion to enhance the accuracy and reliability of integrated navigation systems. A decentralized estimation fusion method is established for individual integrations of GPS and SAR into INS to obtain the local optimal state estimations in a parallel manner. A global optimal estimation fusion theory is studied to fuse the local optimal estimations for generating the global optimal state estimation of INS/GPS/SAR integrated navigation systems. The global data fusion features a method of variance upper finiteness and a method of variance upper bound to ensure that the global optimal state estimation can be achieved under a general condition. Experimental results demonstrate that INS/GPS/SAR integrated navigation systems achieved by using the proposed methodology have a better performance than INS/GPS integrated systems.     

A relative navigation system for formation flight

A relative navigation system based on both the Inertial Navigation System (INS) and the Global Positioning System (GPS) is developed to support situational awareness during formation flight. The architecture of the system requires an INS/GPS integration across two aircraft via a data link. A fault-tolerant federated filter is used to estimate the relative INS errors based on relative GPS measurements and a range measurement obtained from the data link. The filter is constructed based on a reduced-order model of the relative INS error process. A method for analyzing the filter performance is presented. A case involving two helicopters in formation flight is studied under three different night trajectories to account for the effect of vehicle motion on the INS state transition matrix. The results of the covariance analysis are compared with actual night results over an instrumented test range.     

联合制导攻击武器六自由度系统仿真

重点分析了GPS/IN S复合制导系统及激光导引头的工作原理和建模方法,同时介绍了增程套件的原理,并设计了方案弹道。通过六自由度弹道仿真,比较了增加组件前后联合制导攻击武器的性能指标。研究结论对我国现有库存常规炸弹的制导化改进有一定的参考价值。     

对GPS／INS制导巡航导弹GPS干扰方法的探讨

目前GPS/INS制导已成为精确制导武器的核心。本文根据GPS信号特点及GPS/INS制导机理,通过对压制干扰和欺骗干扰技术及其对GPS接收机影响的分析,着重探讨对GPS/INS制导巡航导弹GPS干扰的方法。若要提高对GPS/INS制导巡航导弹实施远距离干扰的效果,而又使干扰机功率不是很大,则需建立多层次、分布式、立体式、小功率GPS干扰体系。     

Fuzzy corrections in a GPS/INS hybrid navigation system

A new concept regarding GPS/INS integration, based on artificial intelligence, i.e. adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) is presented. The GPS is used as reference during the time it is available. The data from GPS and inertial navigation system (INS) are used to build a structured knowledge base consisting of behavior of the INS in some special scenarios of vehicle motion. With the same data, the proposed fuzzy system is trained to obtain the corrected navigation data. In the absence of the GPS information, the system will perform its task only with the data from INS and with the fuzzy correction algorithm. This paper shows, using Matlab simulations, that as long as the GPS unavailability time is no longer than the previous training time and for the scenarios a priori defined, the accuracy of trained ANFIS, in absence of data from a reference navigation system, is better than the accuracy of stand-alone INS. The flexibility of model is also analyzed.     

基于强跟踪滤波的GPS/INS组合导航系统对准技术研究

针对卡尔曼滤波鲁棒性较差的问题,研究了基于强跟踪滤波方法的GPS/INS对准。建立了GPS/INS组合导航系统对准的误差模型,对机载装备系统进行GPS/INS组合导航系统的对准仿真分析,验证该方案的可行性及强跟踪滤波器的性能。仿真结果表明,采用强跟踪滤波能够根据残差的变化求出渐消因子,能够在机动过程中有效跟踪系统状态量,从而提高对准精度和速度。采用强跟踪滤波的GPS/INS组合导航系统对准技术可以保证对准的快速性及对准精度,对工程应用具有重要的参考价值。     

Smuggling interdiction using an adaptation of the AN/APG-76multimode radar

The AN/APG-76 multimode radar was designed and developed for a multimode attack fighter application requiring rapid search, detection, identification, and precision location of both airborne and surface targets from long standoff ranges under adverse weather conditions. Unique is the radar's ability to generate SAR images of a selected area while simultaneously detecting and tracking all-speed moving objects located within that imaged region. Northrop Grumman Norden Systems has recently upgraded and adapted this radar to smuggling interdiction and related law enforcement missions. These adaptations have added an integrated GPS/INS subsystem for enhanced self-navigation and target location accuracy, a long range wide-band digital data link and ground station for mission control and data dissemination, a 3-D interferometric SAR imaging capability for detailed high resolution topographic mapping, and 1 meter and 0.3 meter resolution SAR modes for positive target identification. Additionally, the radar has been installed into wing-mounted pods and adapted for side-looking and 360 degree coverage applications. Automatic target detection and enhanced-range sea-surveillance and air-targeting modes are also now available through the use of open architecture commercial processors and non-proprietary transportable programming languages     

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。     

GPS/BDS/INS tightly coupled integration accuracy improvement using an improved adaptive interacting multiple model with classified measurement update

An Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) is commonly used to fuse raw Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) measurements and Inertial Navigation System (INS) derived measurements. However, the Conventional EKF (CEKF) suffers the problem for which the uncertainty of the statistical properties to dynamic and measurement models will degrade the performance. In this research, an Adaptive Interacting Multiple Model (AIMM) filter is developed to enhance performance. The soft-switching property of Interacting Multiple Model (IMM) algorithm allows the adaptation between two levels of process noise, namely lower and upper bounds of the process noise. In particular, the Sage adaptive filtering is applied to adapt the measurement covariance on line. In addition, a classified measurement update strategy is utilized, which updates the pseudorange and Doppler observations sequentially. A field experiment was conducted to validate the proposed algorithm, the pseudorange and Doppler observations from Global Positioning System (GPS) and BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) were post-processed in differential mode. The results indicate that decimeter-level positioning accuracy is achievable with AIMM for GPS/INS and GPS/BDS/INS configurations, and the position accuracy is improved by 35.8%, 34.3% and 33.9% for north, east and height components, respectively, compared to the CEKF counterpart for GPS/BDS/INS. Degraded performance for BDS/INS is obtained due to the lower precision of BDS pseudorange observations.     

GPS／INS组合导航系统松、紧耦合性能比较

对GPS/INS组合导航系统的紧耦合算法进行了理论推导。详细分析了当INS元器件性能变差时,GPS/INS组合导航系统在不同耦合模式下的定位精度变化规律,得出采用紧耦合模式的组合导航系统比一般的松耦合方式能获得更好的定位精度;并通过仿真验证了该结论的正确。     

INS／SAR／GPS组合导航系统中的信息融合算法研究

以INS/SAR/GPS组合导航系统的工程应用为目标,讨论其最优估计融合算法及理论证明。研究结果表明:采用最优估计融合算法,是提高整个组合系统的导航精度和可靠性的行之有效的方法。     

Rapid development of tightly-coupled GPS/INS systems

This paper addresses the question: “Why aren't tightly-coupled OPS/INS systems everywhere, on aircraft, ships and land vehicles?” Two barriers to the widespread use are cited. One is the high cost of the INS, and the other is the cost and complexity of tightly-coupled OPS/INS integration. One of those two barriers has recently been diminished drastically with the development of a standardized software package for tightly-coupled integration. In the past, only the largest corporations have been able to pay the initial development cost for tightly-coupled OPS/INS integration, usually with funding from a large defense program. Using the new software package, integration and van test can be accomplished in a matter of days, and this has been demonstrated with field trials. The package is intended primarily for small companies that otherwise would not be able to build tightly-coupled OPS/INS systems at all. What would have been a prohibitive 3- or 4-man year development effort is reduced to a few man weeks. To accomplish an integration, the system integrator has to find a way, through serial interfaces or by some other means, to get the INS measurements of acceleration (accumulated velocity change ΔV) and attitude rate (accumulated angle change Δ&thetas;) into a processor, along with the raw data of a GPS receiver. He also has to find a way to time tag the INS ΔV, Δ&thetas; with GPS time. The rest of tightly-coupled OPS/INS integration is predominately accomplished in the standardized software package. That leaves the cost of the INS as the only remaining barrier to the very widespread use of OPS/INS, and invites new development of low cost inertial sensors. The focus of this paper is on the software package, and how it achieves standardization and ease of use while retaining the flexibility to produce optimal results with a variety of INS and GPS receiver types     

Multipath-adaptive GPS/INS receiver

Multipath interference is one of the contributing sources of errors in precise global positioning system (GPS) position determination. This paper identifies key parameters of a multipath signal, focusing on estimating them accurately in order to mitigate multipath effects. Multiple model adaptive estimation (MMAE) techniques are applied to an inertial navigation system (INS)-coupled GPS receiver, based on a federated (distributed) Kalman filter design, to estimate the desired multipath parameters. The system configuration is one in which a GPS receiver and an INS are integrated together at the level of the in-phase and quadrature phase (I and Q) signals, rather than at the level of pseudo-range signals or navigation solutions. The system model of the MMAE is presented and the elemental Kalman filter design is examined. Different parameter search spaces are examined for accurate multipath parameter identification. The resulting GPS/INS receiver designs are validated through computer simulation of a user receiving signals from GPS satellites with multipath signal interference present The designed adaptive receiver provides pseudo-range estimates that are corrected for the effects of multipath interference, resulting in an integrated system that performs well with or without multipath interference present.