A05-089 TITLE: Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) Precision Geolocation
TECHNOLOGY AREAS: Air Platform, Sensors
ACQUISITION PROGRAM: PEO IEW&S
OBJECTIVE: Develope a prototype unmanned aerial vehicle(UAV) Signal Intelligence(SIGINT) geolocation capability that utilizes commerical off the shelf(COTS) or UAV navigation components and embedded sensor navigation processing to achieve the navigation accuracy required for time difference of arrival(TDOA)/frequency difference of arrival(FDOA). Demonstrate how this capability can be inserted into a variety of UAV payloads including rotary wing and what the resultant TDOA/FDOA accuracy will be.
DESCRIPTION: The Army has a requirement for a UAV precision geolocation capability. The size and capacity of Army aircraft has always been a major factor in geolocation system design due to weight and space requirements. With the advent of new UAVs, this problem is compounded. Aside from solving the issues of antenna placements, tuner size and capabilities, and processor and data link throughput, there is an additional constraint on vehicle avionics. Prior Army manned aircraft SIGINT programs had the resources to evaluated and modify, or even replace if needed, various avionics suite components, including the GPS and inertial navigation system. With the new UAV systems coming online expected to share multiple mission roles or payloads, SIGINT system designers are now required to use the airframe as-is, which means systems design and trade-off analysis for each individual UAV. The idea of this effort is to help eliminate one particular tailored aspect on the systems design, the navigation solution. This effort will characterize an embedded sensor navigation processing software application for a COTs or UAV indigenous navigation system, and demonstrate the best attainable SIGINT geolocation accuracy. Environmental factors such as speed, reflection off rotor blades, timing constraints, as well as assumed payload parameters shall be included in the technical budget analysis.
Potential commercial (dual-use) applications include consumer electronics products like remote controlled aircraft and civil airborne surveying or mapping operations.
PHASE I: Perform a feasibility study and selection of the best technical approach to satisfy the requirements above. Validate concept through technical analysis. Provide cost and schedule estimate for implementation.
PHASE II: Implement the design by building a prototype system and perform testing against various representative COTS or representative UAV navigation systems to validate the accuracy of the design against the requirements.
PHASE III DUAL USE APPLICATIONS: Technologies developed in Phase II that show promise will be transitioned to Phase III. This technology will be utilized to assist the PM SW and its contractors in the design of space and weight efficient P3I solutions the Tactical SIGINT Payload program.
REFERENCES:
1) http://www.navsys.com/papers/0409001.pdf
KEYWORDS: geolocation, UAV, TDOA, FDOA, SIGINT