SBIR Phase I: Navigation Independent Relative Positioning System

The broader impact of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is to improve of aerospace exploration. In aviation, the capability of the Navigation Relative Positioning System (NIRPS) working with GPS as a reliable interoperable mutual backup system will significantly reduce the need for ground control, hence providing flight safety and the ability to reduce the massive cost of ground support services. In space applications, NIRPS will significantly improve guidance and control of many space operations, from Low Earth Orbit to Beyond Earth Orbit space missions. It will enhance autonomous rendezvous, improve accuracy of position sensing, and increase the capability of docking without humans in the loop. It will significantly reduce dependence on ground-based tracking, ranging, trajectory/orbit/attitude determination and maneuver planning support functions, and complexity of the flight control algorithms. By continuously holding position information on trajectory, NIRPS will provide programmable capabilities to allow the spacecraft to act independently from ground control, devising real-time actions in response to environmental conditions as well rejecting possible hijacking attempts. NIRPS will enable classes of missions which would not be previously possible. The proposed project will address the problems of aerospace navigation by providing onboard reliable real time autonomous cybersecure navigation for aerospace applications. Due to the latency and instability of inertial navigation, aerospace navigation relies on GPS, beacons, and flight/mission control systems. Contrary to inertial navigation utilizing forces of spinning mass or propagation of light inside rotational media, the proposed NIRPS utilizes collinear displacement of the inertial frame in relation to the independent propagation of light within. The Phase I project encompasses the feasibility of deploying photonics methods of fabrication of the NIRPS key component, the Non-Inertial Velocity Detector (NIVD). Silicon photonics is becoming the leading technology for Photonic Integrated Circuits (PICs) due to large-scale integration, low cost, and high-volume production enabled by the Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor (CMOS) fabrication process. In this Phase, we will research materials and their possible interactions in varying environmental conditions. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.