Small Light-Weight Precision Localization and Geo-registration System

Airborne navigation, reconnaissance, surveillance, and targeting are critical missions that must be performed by the U.S. military in environments where reliable GPS services are unavailable or intentionally denied. Congruently, civil aviation has a similar need for onboard GPS-denied navigation and autonomous airport/runway recognition to enable the seamless integration of unmanned aircraft into manned civil airspace. Existing systems are not suitable for an onboard, real-time application in the turbulent flight environments experience with small unmanned air vehicles. To fill this gap, Phase I research has established the technical feasibility of combining vision-aiding, inertially stabilized cameras, and centralized optimal estimation to provide a GPS-denied navigation and targeting capability that is as good or better than a conventional GPS/INS solution. Phase II will develop this technology into a flight-proven operational capability with a TRL-8 maturity for a Class II short-range tactical unmanned air vehicle. With a plan for rapid technology transition, and numerous industry letters confirming that we have the required commercialization support, we will develop a flight-proven, operational capability in less than twelve months to remove the acute restrictions currently limiting civil and military aviation operations in GPS-denied environments.