System for Positioning Using Magnetic Anomalies Correlation of Earth (PUMACE)

The Global Positioning System (GPS) is an invaluable asset for providing low-cost, all-weather precise position, navigation, and time (PNT) measurements. However, it can be denied or degraded. It has been shown that the use of magnetic anomalies for the purposes of enabling a passive and robust all-weather navigation system without any dependence on new infrastructure is feasible. This effort proposes to leverage prior research and a novel Always-Be-Calibrating (ABC) smoothing filter to develop a magnetic-anomaly-based navigation system that is reliable and that can be used to bound inertial navigation system (INS) errors. The robust magnetic navigation (MagNav) system will be realized through a continuous magnetic calibration process, and by early integration and testing with the GPS-based PNT Service (GPNTS). Prototype hardware developed by Raytheon will be used to collect data and to test Toyon’s navigation algorithms. This will be followed by limited at-sea testing, and final integration testing with GPNTS.