AUTONOMOUS COMPUTER AIDED INTEGRATED NAVIGATION (ACAIN) PROTOTYPE DEVELOPMENT

NAVIGATIONAL SENSORS AND RADAR/SONAR DEVICES UTILIZED BY MILITARY UNDERWATER VEHICLES AND SURFACE SHIPS ARE RELIABLE AND ACCURATE UNDER IDEAL CONDITIONS. HOWEVER, SENSOR PERFORMANCE IS OFTEN SUBJECT TO DEGRADATION AND SPURIOUS FAULTS IN A REAL, NONCONTROLLABLE ENVIRONMENT. USE OF INTEGRATED NAVIGATION SUBSYSTEMS WHICH EXPERTLY VALIDATE, FILTER, AND FUSE NAVIGATION, RADAR, AND/OR SONAR DATA INPUTS FROM INDIVIDUAL SENSORS CAN GREATLY INCREASE THE ACCURACY AND THE RELIABILITY OF NAVIGATION, ESPECIALLY WHEN THE FUSED SENSOR DATA IS USE TO PILOT AN AUTONOMOUS NAVIGATION CONTROLLER OR COLLISION AVOIDANCE SYSTEM. THE AUTONOMOUS COMPUTER AIDED INTEGRATED NAVIGATION (ACAIN) PROTOTYPE DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM WILL YIELD A MODULAR, MICROPROCESSOR CONTROLLED, INTEGRATED NAVIGATIONAL SUBSYSTEM DESIGNED TO BE INSERTED INTO SURFACE SHIP OR UNDERWATER VEHICLE ENVIRONMENTS. THE ACAIN SMART INTERFACE PROTOTYPE SYSTEM DESIGNED AND DEVELOPED DURING PHASE I EFFORTS AND IMPLEMENTED DURING PHASE II EFFORTS WILL INTERFACE TO INDEPENDENT NAVIGATIONAL SENSORS AND WILL DIGITIZE, VALIDATE, FILTER, AND FUSE NAVIGATIONAL DATA USING AN EXPERT KALMAN FILTER TECHNIQUE. THE ACAIN SYSTEM PROTOTYPE INSTALLED DURING PHASE II WILL INTERFACE TO AN UNDERWATER AUTO-NAVIGATION CONTROL SYSTEM AND WILL USE THE HIGHLY-ACCURATE AND RELIABLE FUSED DATA TO GENERATE AUTO-NAVIGATION CONTROL VECTORS.