Star Tracker Augmented Inertial Navigation System for High Altitude UAV

We propose to develop a low-cost, high-precision navigational sensor system for air vehicles flying at high altitudes and high Mach number that does not rely on satellite navigational systems. We plan to combine a low-cost inertial navigation system with one or more star tracking cameras to provide accurate positional data at high rates for extended periods of time. High altitude balloon missions have demonstrated that it is possible to acquire a sufficient number of stars for accurate attitude determination during daylight and nighttime hours. We plan to combine the highly accurate attitude information from the star camera with a star atlas and the INS to give optimal position estimates with near GPS accuracy. The navigation platform is completely passive and consumes little power. It enables high altitude air vehicles accurate navigation capability even during periods where GPS signals are unavailable due to enemy jamming or otherwise. With the advances in digital equipment, such as high resolution CCD devices, the cost of manufacture can be kept so low that our navigation system can be used on expendable weapons systems.