INNOVATIVE GUIDANCE & NAVIGATION SENSORS AND PROCESSING

A DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM FOR A LOW-COST, SMART, MINIATURE, LIGHTWEIGHT, SELF-CONTAINED, AND STAND-ALONE NAVIGATION SYSTEM (REFERRED TO AS SNS) IS PROPOSED. SNS USES NOVEL MINIATURE INERTIAL NAVIGATION SYSTEM (INS) AND A LOW-COST GLOBAL POSITIONING SYSTEM (GPS) FOR POSITION INITIALIZATION. OUR PROPOSED INS COMPONENT USES NOVEL SILICON MICROSENSORS WITH ON-CHIP FUNCTIONALITY (SMART MICROSENSORS) SUCH AS A MICRO-RESONATING GYROSCOPE (MRG). THE SENSORS' OUTPUT ARE INTERFACED TO A MICROPROCESSOR WHERE KALMAN FILTERING AND COMPUTATIONS ARE PERFORMED TO DETERMINE POSITION AND VELOCITY AS A FUNCTION OF TIME. THE OBJECTIVES OF PHASE I ARE: (1) TO CHARACTERIZE THE CONSTITUENTS OF SNS INCLUDING SENSORS, GPS, AND INTERFACE ELECTRONICS, (2) TO OPTIMIZE THE DESIGN OF A NOVEL MONOLITHIC MICROMACHINE THE GYROSCOPE'S PACKAGE. THE RESULTS OF PHASE I WILL BE USED TO BUILD AND COMMERCIALIZE AN SNS IN PHASE II AND III IN COLLABORATION WITH THE EXISTING INDEPENDENT POTENTIAL PARTNERSHIPS. THE RESULTING SNS WILL BE SEVERAL TIMES LIGHTER, LESS EXPENSIVE, AND SMALLER THAN ANY EXISTING NAVIGATION SYSTEM WITH SIMILAR PERFORMANCE CHARACTERISTICS.