Novel Navigation Sensor Suite for 155 mm Artillery

An affordable suite of sensors will be strategically packaged to produce a reliable, highly accurate and robust IMU capable of surviving the launch and flight environment of a 155mm projectile. This proposed Enhanced Precision IMU (EP-IMU) will be sufficiently small (less than 1.5 cu in), light weight and low power for integration into a 155mm projectile and will provide accurate data measurements of angular motion/rotation and linear accelerations needed to characterize the projectiles orientation/state. To meet this goal, the proposed EP-IMU will utilize an array of IMUs that when passed through a proprietary statistical sensor fusion and calibration methods will provide tactical grade data outputs. The proposed EP-IMU array of sensors will offer spatial and temporal improvements in data while also offering robustness and redundancy especially after gun-launch. This Phase I effort will evaluated the feasibility of the proposed hardware and firmware to meet the specific performance requirements of a 155mm projectile. Through scaled experimentation, key critical areas will be evaluated that will allow the proposed EP-IMU to rapidly mature component technologies for demonstration in Phase II. This effort will leverage the “know how” and expertise gained during the development of complementary high-g survivable electronics for other gun launched projectiles.