Affordable Rugged MEMS Inertial Navigation System for Unmanned Surface Vehicles

This Phase I SBIR project will design, fabricate and evaluate a rugged, small, light weight inertial navigation IMU system suitable for the littoral marine environment. The proposed system incorporates state-of-the-art MEMS inertial sensors, interface to aiding sources including a 3-axis magnetometer, speed sensor and GPS from either SAASM or commercial grade receiver and a CPU running an extended Kalman filter software to enable sustained navigation in both GPS and GPS denied environments. During Phase I, various next generation sensor components and system designs will be examined in laboratory bench testing and with computer simulations to ascertain the extent the IMU will maintain the desired position and attitude navigation accuracy when GPS signal is lost, the ability to survive in a littoral marine environment, and the relative impact on performance, size, weight, cost, and power. Based on the attainment of satisfactory results, a preliminary system design and an interface control document will be developed. In Phase II, the proposed system will be prototyped and field tested in a relevant marine environment.