PC-BASED AUTOMATED COMPUTER-AIDED INTEGRATED NAVIGATION (PC-ACAIN) SUBSYSTEM DEVELOPMENT

AN AFFORDABLE, RUGGEDIZED PERSONAL COMPUTER (PC) BASED SUBSYSTEM WHICH EXPERTLY VALIDATES, FILTERS, AND FUSES NAVIGATION DATA INPUTS FROM INDIVIDUAL SENSORS NOT ONLY WILLYIELD HIGHLY ACCURATE AND RELIABLE NAVIGATION VECTORS, BUT ALSO WILL PRESENT A COHERENT DISPLAY TO ASSIST SHIP'S BRIDGEOPERATIONS. THE PHASE 2 PC-BASED AUTOMATED COMPUTER-AIDED INTEGRATED NAVIGATION (PC-ACAIN) DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM WILL YIELD A LOW COST, INTEGRATED NAVIGATION MONITOR AND DISPLAY SUBSYSTEM DESIGNED TO BE INSTALLED IN SURFACE SHIP ENVIRONMENTS. DURING PHASE 1 PC-ACAIN EFFORTS, NOAA NAVIGATION EQUIPMENT WILL BE STUDIED FOR SUITABILITY OF COMMERCIAL OR CUSTOM PC INTERFACE BOARDS. THE REQUIREMENTS FOR PC-ACAIN IMPLEMENTATION OF A DIGITAL MAPPING DATABASE WILL ALSO BE INVESTIGATED. ALSO DURING PHASE 1 EFFORTS, PREVIOUSLY DEVELOPED ACAIN NAVIGATION INTEGRATION/FILTERING SOFTWARE AND SIMULATION TEST BED SOFTWARE WILL BE MODIFIED TO OPERATE IN A PERSONAL COMPUTER (PC) ENVIRONMENT. ACAIN KALMAN FILTER ALGORITHMS WILL BE ENHANCED TO IMPROVE EXECUTION SPEED IN A PC BASED SYSTEM BY INCORPORATING A POTTER SQUARE ROOT FORMULATION (ALSO KNOWN AS THE U-D FACTORIZATION METHOD). PHASE 1 PC-ACAIN SOFTWARE WILL BE TESTED AND EVALUATED USING THE ACAIN TEST BED WHICH SIMULATES NAVIGATION INSTRUMENT FAILURES, SPURIOUS DATA, ANDDEVICE FAULTS WITHIN USER DEFINED, VARIABLE EQUIPMENT, VARIABLE DYNAMIC SCENARIOS. DURING PHASE 2 EFFORTS, A MODULAR, PLUG-IN PC-ACAIN SUBSYSTEM WILL BE DEVELOPED AND TESTED ON BOARD CANDIDATE NOAA VESSELS IDENTIFIED DURING PHASE 1.