Polarization-Sensitive Navigation Reference System

Military and civilian platforms increasingly rely on the Global Positioning System (GPS) system for not only navigation and position, but also communication and time. The susceptibility of GPS to sources of intentional and unintentional interference increases the vulnerability of such platforms. The focus of this effort is to develop a polarization-sensitive reference navigation system that can be used when GPS is denied, or enhance GPS when it is available. Moreover, the electronics developed during this program will have a dual use as a GPS receiver (when available) thereby minimizing hardware requirements. The GPS-denied position and attitude performance of the system will be comparable to the performance when GPS is available. The navigation system will comprise one or more transceiver reference stations and mobile receivers. Mobile receivers will navigate relative to the reference stations, which may be stationary or moving. The navigation system will take advantage of signal polarization to improve the platform position and attitude performance, and will enable full 3-D navigation in position, orientation and time with just two reference stations. Select missions will only require one reference station. The proposed navigation system will not require calibration and will be easy to deploy.