Hardware-in-the-loop test bed for magnetic field navigation

Arrow Tech Associates (ATA) has teamed with Penn State Applied Research Lab (PSU ARL) in this Phase 1 STTR effort to combine our experience relating to magnetometers, GNC and HWILs to create a reliable and repeatable HWIL test bed which emulates a magnetic environment. This will allow testing of the feasibility of utilizing publicly available databases of the Earth’s magnetic field to augment current GNC technologies. ATA and PSU ARL’s approach is to develop a requirements document for a magnetic HWIL test bed with input from AFRL. The team will then develop a baseline concept design for a prototype magnetic HWIL. A Matlab/SIMULINK model of the system will be developed to simulate system performance, behavior, and tolerances, including all sub-system models. A magnetic vector application server will be developed to provide magnetic vectors to the HWIL for any latitude, longitude, and altitude. These systems will be combined together in a proof of concept prototype that will generate varying magnetic scenes onto a test magnetometer, which in turn will provide feedback to a simulation and validate the design. Future efforts will be focused on scaling the design to allow testing of munitions of interest.