Multisensor Time Synchronization

In Phase I, Avtec demonstrated a technique that uses the structure of tactical communications systems to provide a reliable and precise relative time and range synchronization between the participating platforms. This technique uses an unbiased balanced timing messaging system to determine the clock offsets and relative range between a reference platform and an associated vehicle. In addition, by tracking the offsets and the magnitudes of the offset corrections, the frequency difference between the sensor local oscillators can be determined. This method is mostly implemented in the sensor and communications system processing and has minimal impact on the hardware. Similarly, for the synchronizing sensors on a single platform, we take the same approach but use the internal platform bus for maintaining the coherence. The advantage for synchronizing distributed sensors was shown using a validated computer simulation. The simulation showed a dramatic performance improvement over current capabilities. In Phase II we will develop, build and demonstrate an avionics mockup for further developing our proposed methods in for real-time operations and under simulated operational conditions.