WANDER: WHTS Airman Navigation and Direction EstimatoR Phase II

The WHTS Airman Navigation and Direction Estimator (WANDER) is based upon accurate, high-speed image registration to enable accurate video-based tracking complemented by inertial navigation devices (accelerometers, gyroscopes, and magnetometers/inclinometers). WANDER develops an optimal, combined video and inertial navigation solution with accurate helmet directional tracking when GPS or other navigation system data are unavailable, and re-calibrates to these other navigation sources when they can provide data. WANDER mitigates drift-prone inertial navigation behavior, and provides a computationally simpler (and faster) solution than optical computation methods such as parallax-derived navigation. In Phase I we simulated and laboratory-demonstrated a feasibility testbed version of this processing, using a laptop computer for the calculations, and quantitatively determined WANDER is feasible. During Phase II will extend this feasibility-proven baseline to the next level Phase II prototypes with Battlefield Airman Operations (BAO) Kit-interfaces, demonstrated and tested with a helmet-worn near-to-eye (NTE) display.