Extend Operational Use of Global Positioning System (GPS) User Equipment (UE) via Operational Techniques and Enhanced Energy Devices

ABSTRACT: The Current generation of military GPS User Equipment (UE) uses significantly more power than a commercial GPS unit. There is a desire to develop operational techniques and lower power devices to increase operational use of hand-held military GPS devices. A lower power alternative to continuously running a SAASM receiver is to use a hybrid solution where the SAASM is only periodically turned on and used to update an alternative navigation system which is running continuously. Under the Phase I contract we developed a design for a Hybrid SAASM solution that extends the operational use of military hand-held GPS receivers by periodically shutting off the SAASM functions and using a low-power dead reckoning solution between SAASM fixes. This Hybrid SAASM architecture is based on commercial components integrated with existing SAASM modules which can result in a low power, handheld solution which maintains the anti-jam and anti-spoof protection provided by military GPS UE. Under this contract we will develop a Hybrid SAASM Test-Bed integrated with an advanced battery pack to demonstrate the expected performance under representative operating conditions. The Phase II test-bed will be used to demonstrate the anti-spoof and anti-jam and intelligent power saving features of the Hybrid SAASM architecture. BENEFIT: The battery lifetime of military GPS handheld receivers is significantly less than that of commercial GPS receivers. For this reason, many military users are carrying commercial GPS receivers in theater rather than the mandated SAASM UE. This places them at risk of jamming and spoofing which could have disastrous effect on military operations. The proposed solution not only drastically reduces power consumption of next generation military GPS UE, but can greatly extend the utility of currently fielded units at low cost.