MULTICHAIN LORAN-C TIME DIFFERENCE MONITOR RECEIVER

USCG SOLICITATION 90-CG5 SUGGESTS EVALUATION OF KALMAN FILTERING A DIGITAL SIGNAL PROCESSING (DSP) TECHNIQUE, TO IMPROVE GEODETIC POSITIONING PROVIDED BY SINGLE CHAIN, AND EVENTUALLY, MULTICHAIN LORAN RECEIVERS. A DSP TECHNIQUE COMPARABLE TO KALMAN FILTERING HAS ALREADY BEEN IMPLEMENTED ON A SINGLE CHAIN LORAN RECEIVER, RESULTING IN SUBSTANTIAL GEODETIC POSITIONING IMPROVEMENTS IN NOISY, DYNAMIC ENVIRONMENTS. THESE IMPROVEMENTS HAVE BEEN DOCUMENTED DURING EXTENSIVE STUDIES USING OFF-AIR AND SIMULATOR SIGNALS. GIVEN OUR DOCUMENTED SUCCESS OF THE DSP IMPLEMENTATION ON A SINGLE CHAIN RECEIVER, OUR PHASE I PROPOSAL ADDRESSES THE GOAL OF CONVERTING THIS DSP TECHNIQUE TO A MULTICHAIN SYSTEM. SPECIFIC TASKS DETAILED IN THE PROPOSAL ARE: (1) DETERMINE THE FEASIBILITY OF CONVERTING EXISTING DSP TECHNIQUES TO A MULTICHAIN ENVIRONMENT; (2) PROJECT THE CAPABILITIES OF A MULTICHAIN SYSTEM USING THOSE CONVERTED DSP TECHNIQUES; AND (3) STRUCTURE A DEVELOPMENT PLAN AND DETERMINE THE DEVELOPMENT TOOLS REQUIRED FOR THE ACTUAL IMPLEMENTATION DURING PHASE II. RESULTS: (1) EXISTING DSP TECHNIQUES CONVERTED TO MULTICHAIN ENVIRONMENT; (2) PROJECTED RECEIVER PERFORMANCE SUBSTANTIALLY ENHANCED; (3) STRATEGY AND TOOLS FOR PHASE IICONVERSION. COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS: ALL EXISTING MARINE, AVIATION, AND TERRESTRIAL (VEHICLE LOCATION) APPLICATIONS. GOVERNMENT APPLICATIONS: FOR DEPTS OF TRANSPORTATION , DEFENSE, INTERIOR.