COLLECTIVE/COOPERATIVE NAVIGATION

Maintaining accurate navigation in GPS-denied conditions is critical for the U.S. military. Making inter-platform measurements and sharing data between multiple cooperating platforms has the potential to significantly enhance navigation accuracy, mitigating the loss of GPS. System & Technology Research is developing a novel software framework for such cooperative navigation. Our formulation is based on a decentralized pose graph, allowing us to rigorously combine all measurements, while using measurement pedigree data to ensure we are not double-counting information. Our program plan includes trade studies to design a system that achieves high accuracy while operating with limited processing power and memory footprint. In addition, we will develop methods for optimizing and adapting both the swarm formation and flight trajectories to improve navigation performance.