Portable and Federated Alternative – Position, Navigation, and Timing using Tactical Grade INS Bounded by Low Earth Orbit Signal of Opportunity Navigation

US Forces are pivoting to the Pacific in support of Indo Pacific Command (INDOPACOM) operations.  Crews of aircraft and ships will confront the “tyranny of distance and water” while conducting operations in contested sea and air space against near peer adversaries.  These adversaries are expected to jam and/or spoof our GPS systems across vast areas in an effort to deny our forces position, navigation, and timing.  Satellites, aircraft, fishing vessels, and upper stratosphere balloons are all potential sources of widespread GPS jamming outside of immediate combat zones.  This program focuses on rapidly fielding a portable and federated Alternative-Position, Navigation, and Timing (A-PNT) capability that leverages readily available commercial, dual use technology.  Pocket A-PNT integrates a powerful L1/L5 band, multi-constellation Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receiver with a tactical grade Inertial Navigation System (INS) to provide very accurate inertial navigation when any one of five GNSS constellations is available.  Pocket A-PNT is a very powerful INS navigator during normal operations.  When Global Positioning System (GPS) is denied, the INS is combined with Doppler navigation based on Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite signals of opportunity, to provide an A-PNT navigation solution.  All of this capability is neatly integrated into a small chassis about the size of a typical smart phone.  Aircrew will be able to easily carry Pocket A-PNT in their flight suit or navigation bag.  When needed, Pocket A-PNT can be placed on the forward glare shield with the L-Band antenna rotated up for LEO signal reception.  A-PNT information is streamed to the pilot’s Electronic Flight Bag (EFB) tablet via Wi-Fi and consumed by apps such as Foreflight natively.  No connection or integration to aircraft systems is required.  On vessels, A-PNT data is delivered to marine plotters via the ubiquitous National Maritime Electronics Association (NMEA) serial interface. Use of charting equipment already carried on aircraft and vessels keeps the cost low and reduces program risk. SBIR funds will be concentrated on the A-PNT solution and not on developing standalone mapping and charting equipment. Although the focus of this research is on providing A-PNT in GPS denied regions, the system will also serve as a backup precision navigation source during airborne and shipboard emergencies where battle damage or equipment failure precludes the use of installed systems.