Relative Orientation and Navigation (RONin) System

Swarming UAVs and future space-based missions will require multi-platform instruments that share timing. The Global Positioning System (GPS) is no longer reliable in theater due to jamming, and cannot easily be used above low-Earth orbit (LEO). Toyon has developed, under prior NASA and Army contracts, a novel closed-loop clock phase and clock phase rate adjustment mechanism that provides nanosecond accuracy over a wireless network of instruments. The feasibility of the proposed approach was successfully demonstrated with actual hardware during these prior efforts. The proposed effort will continue that work to improve the timing performance and bring this technology to the United States Air Force. The prototype Simultaneous Localization and Time Synchronization (SLATS) hardware and associated algorithms use a distributed and collaborative algorithm that can simultaneously support a large number of nodes. Each node will transmit and receive radio-frequency (RF) waveforms which will be used to determine relative time between two or more nodes. Provided the received signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is sufficient, the performance of the system is independent of the number and distance between nodes. Toyon’s ISO-certified Radio-Frequency (RF) products team will be responsible for the production and delivery of systems for actual missions.