GLOBAL POSITIONING SYSTEM ATTITUDE CONTROL

A PROTOTYPE GUIDANCE AND CONTROL SYSTEM SENSOR FOR DIRECTED ENERGY WEAPONS IS PROPOSED. THIS GUIDANCE SUBSYSTEM SENSOR WILL USE THE GLOBAL POSITIONING SYSTEM (GPS) SATELLITE CONSTELLATION FOR BOTH POSITION AND ATTITUDE DETERMINATION OF THE DEW. THIS GPS ATTITUDE DETERMINATION SYSTEM CAN BE CAN BE APPLIED FOR POINTING AND ATTITUDE CONTROL OF MANY TYPES OF DEWS, INCLUDING GROUND, AIR, AND SPACE BASED WEAPONS. AN ADROIT CONCEIVED INNOVATIVE ALGORITHM CALLED THE ERROR CORRECTING ATTITUDE SOLUTION (ECAS) IS PROPOSED TO CALCULATE THE ATTITUDE SOLUTION. THE ECAS SHOULD GREATLY ENHANCE THE PERFORMANCE AND APPLICABILITY OF THE GPS AND ADS. THE ECAS WILL ALLOW FOR CORRECTION OF THE TWO LARGEST ERROR SOURCES: UNMATCHED ANTENNA PHASE DIFFERENCE ERROR AND ELECTRICAL PATH LENGTH BIAS AND VARIATION. THESE CORRECTIONS CAN GREATLY INCREASE THE ACCURACY OF THE ADS, WHILE ALSO INCREASING THE MOUNTING ENVIRONMENT TOLERANCE OF THE ANTENNA SYSTEM. THIS SHOULD MAKE THE ECAS ADS AN IDEAL GUIDANCE SENSOR FOR DEWS. PHASE II OF THIS PROJECT WILL BE TO IMPLEMENT THE ECAS IN AN OPERATIONAL ADS.