Fusion of Avionic Sensor Information into a Geometric Vector with Global Positioning System (GPS)

One of the important concepts in current Air Force planning is the vision of Cost and Mission Driven Avionics. A key element in achieving the goals of this vision is the concept of deep integration of avionics sensor suites for navigation and weapon delivery. The architecture which enables this function is a Geometric Vector (GV). This is a 10 element vector which optimally processes geometric information from all on-board and off-board sensors to provide the best possible estimate of position, velocity, attitude and time. The technical objectives of the SBIR program are to identify military aircraft missions whose performance would be enhanced by a GV, to identify candidate avionics sensors and the quality of the geometric data each provides, and to define the architectural structure to generate the GV. The proposed program will focus on F-15E, F-16, F-22 and JAST missions and functions. Each of the sensors in the existing or proposed avionics suites will be evaluated. Detailed analyses of radar contributions to the GV including Synthetic Aperture processing will be performed. Existing navigation simulations utilizing both error covariance and Monte Carlo approaches will be evaluated and modifications to derive the GV will be identified. Mission effectiveness enhancement using GV will be demonstrated.