Software Toolkit and Test of Nonlinear Filters for GPS OCS Precision Estimation and Applications

We propose to continue our Phase I efforts by demonstrating the full potential of the nonlinear filters for GPS OCS precision estimation in Phase II. The demonstration will be carried out in a more realistic computer simulated software environment. We also plan to use the recommended architecture and the validated software to process real GPS data for demonstration. The Phase I study has showed performance improvements by both the unscented Kalman filter (UKF) and the hybrid Kalman particle filter (HKPF) algorithms over the conventional extended Kalman filter (EKF). In Phase II, the computational algorithms developed in Phase I will be implemented into well-structured software modules together with more complicated force models for use in a user-friendly environment. This software environment will be further turned into a software development toolkit that is “marketable” and useful for other GPS and navigation-related applications. The developmental efforts of the prototype toolkit software are detailed in this Phase II proposal with several cycles for additional algorithms development and implementation, coding and debugging, functionality testing and algorithm tuning, and performance assessment and demonstration.