GPS COMPATIBLE AUTOMATIC CALIBRATION COMBAT VEHICLE DIGITAL COMPASS

KVH INDUSTRIES PROPOSES TO DESIGN A LOW COST DIGITAL FLUXGATE SENSOR SYSTEM TO PROVIDE: (1) DIRECTIONAL REFERENCE FOR PLATFORM FIRE CONTROL SYSTEMS; (2) INTEGRATED BACKUP NAVIGATION REFERENCE FOR THE GLOBAL POSITIONING SYSTEM. THE PRINCIPAL OBJECTIVE WILL BE IMPLEMENTATION OF FIELD CALIBRATION CAPABILITY TO ENSURE ACCURATE COMPASS PERFORMANCE ON ALL COMBAT VEHICLES. THE PROPOSED MICROPROCESSOR BASED SYSTEM WILL BE SMALL, LIGHTWEIGHT, RELIABLE, AND LOW COST. IT WILL PROVIDE ACCURATE (TO 20 MILS RMS) MAGNETIC REFERENCE ON ALL CLASSES OF LIGHT AND HEAVILY ARMORED ARMY TRACKED AND WHEELED VEHICLES, OVERCOMING MAGNETIC ANOMALIES OF ARMORED VEHICLES THROUGH THE USE OF AUTO-CALIBRATION. THE PROPOSED SYSTEM WILL NOT BE DEGRADED BY BATTLEFIELD COUNTERMEASURES. RELIABILITY OF GREATER THAN 30,000 HOURS MTBF, WITH BUILT IN TEST CAPABILITY, WILL ENSURE BACKUP FOR GPS NAVIGATION IN THE EVENT OF COUNTERMEASURE NEUTRALIZATION OR OTHER PRIMARY SYSTEM FAILURE. KVH WILL DEVELOP SOFTWARE ALGORITHMS TO DETERMINE THE MAGNITUDE AND ORIENTATION OF COMPENSATION EQUATIONS FOR (1) TOTALLY MAGNETIC COMPENSATION REQUIRING ONLY A 360 DEG TURN OF THE VEHICLE; (2) FIELD CALIBRATION FOR MAGNETIC ANOMALIES RESULTING FROM TURRENT MOVEMENT ON VEHICLES; (3) DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF A LOW PROFILE "MAGNETIC ANTENNA".