GPS Based Formation Control

The Crown team proposes to develop a Global Positioning System Based Formation Control System (GFCS). The proposed GFCS shall allow vehicles to maneuver relative to each other without reference to additional positioning data and shall allow separations of the nearest points on the vehicles in formation as low as one meter. The GFCS shall utilize commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS)/ non-developmental items (NDI) in the design. To make the system safe and effective, real-time data processing and automated communications between the vehicles will be required. The major components of the GFCS will be the GPS equipment, processing elements, data link communications, and displays. The main effort of Phase I will be developing a detailed conceptual design that meets and achieves developed performance objectives utilizing computer-human interface (CHI) engineering. During the project, a concept of operations and detailed functional and system requirements will be developed. Optimizing the use of identified commercial components, architecture alternatives will be developed and analyzed, and a detailed conceptual design and proof of concept will result. A Phase II plan will be produced describing the development effort necessary to prototype the GFCS design resulting from Phase I.