Patent Grant
8089408
1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the invention relate generally to the field of communication systems. More particularly, an embodiment of the invention relates to navigation systems, and methods of performing navigation.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Prior art navigation systems, such as the Global Positioning System (GPS), are known to those skilled in the art. For instance, a conventional global positioning system consists of more than two dozen GPS satellites broadcasting precise timing signals by radio to GPS receivers, allowing them to accurately determine their location (longitude, latitude, and altitude) anywhere on Earth.
A problem with this technology has been the lack of reliability in thick foliage, rough terrain, and urban areas. Therefore, what is required is a solution that provides navigation systems able to reliably function under such conditions.
Another problem with this technology has been the long time required to obtain a new fix, as well as susceptibility to multipath effects, jamming, or spoofing signals. Therefore, what is also required is a solution that provides a quicker and more robust fix, able to detect multipath, jamming or spoofing induced errors.
One unsatisfactory approach, in an attempt to solve the above-discussed problems involves the use of narrow correlator spacing to reduce noise and multipath effects. However, a disadvantage of this approach is that it does not substantially improve time-to-first-fix, nor does it improve reliability in areas where GPS signals cannot penetrate.
Heretofore, the requirements of reliable signals in difficult terrain, quick time-to-first-fix, and robustness of the fix referred to above have not been fully met. What is needed is a solution that simultaneously solves this all of these problems.
There is a need for the following embodiments of the invention. Of course, the invention is not limited to these embodiments.
According to an embodiment of the invention, a process comprises: providing a plurality of transmitters distributed throughout a desired coverage area; locking the plurality of transmitters to a common timing reference; transmitting a signal from each of the plurality of transmitters. According to another embodiment of the invention, a machine comprises: a plurality of transmitters distributed throughout a desired coverage area; wherein each of the plurality of transmitters comprises a packet generator; and wherein the plurality of transmitters are locked to a common timing reference. According to another embodiment of the invention, a process comprises: providing Global Positioning System fix having a plurality of tracking parameters; providing a Theater Positioning System fix; monitoring the plurality of tracking parameters for predetermined conditions; and, when the predetermined conditions are met, sending a notifying signal and switching to the Theater Positioning System fix as a primary fix. According to another embodiment of the invention, a machine comprises: a system controller; a Global Positioning System receiver coupled to the system controller; a radio frequency locating receiver coupled to the system controller; and an operator interface coupled to the system controller.
These, and other, embodiments of the invention will be better appreciated and understood when considered in conjunction with the following description and the accompanying drawings. It should be understood, however, that the following description, while indicating various embodiments of the invention and numerous specific details thereof, is given by way of illustration and not of limitation. Many substitutions, modifications, additions and/or rearrangements may be made within the scope of an embodiment of the invention without departing from the spirit thereof, and embodiments of the invention include all such substitutions, modifications, additions and/or rearrangements.
The drawings accompanying and forming part of this specification are included to depict certain embodiments of the invention. A clearer conception of embodiments of the invention, and of the components combinable with, and operation of systems provided with, embodiments of the invention, will become more readily apparent by referring to the exemplary, and therefore nonlimiting, embodiments illustrated in the drawings, wherein identical reference numerals (if they occur in more than one view) designate the same elements. Embodiments of the invention may be better understood by reference to one or more of these drawings in combination with the description presented herein. It should be noted that the features illustrated in the drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale.
Embodiments of the invention and the various features and advantageous details thereof are explained more fully with reference to the nonlimiting embodiments that are illustrated in the accompanying drawings and detailed in the following description. Descriptions of well known starting materials, processing techniques, components and equipment are omitted so as not to unnecessarily obscure the embodiments of the invention in detail. It should be understood, however, that the detailed description and the specific examples, while indicating preferred embodiments of the invention, are given by way of illustration only and not by way of limitation. Various substitutions, modifications, additions and/or rearrangements within the spirit and/or scope of the underlying inventive concept will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this disclosure.
Within this application several publications are referenced by Arabic numerals, or principal author's name followed by year of publication, within parentheses or brackets. Full citations for
these, and other, publications may be found at the end of the specification immediately preceding the claims after the section heading References. The disclosures of all these publications in their entireties are hereby expressly incorporated by reference herein for the purpose of indicating the background of embodiments of the invention and illustrating the state of the art.
The below-referenced U.S. patent and U.S. patent application disclose embodiments that are useful for the purposes for which they are intended. The entire contents of U.S. Pat. No. 7,092,440, issued Aug. 15, 2006; U.S. Pat. No. 6,973,145, issued Dec. 6, 2005; U.S. Pat. No. 6,925,135, issued Aug. 2, 2005; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,556,942, issued Apr. 29, 2003, are hereby expressly incorporated by reference herein for all purposes. The entire contents of U.S. Ser. No. 10/840,092, filed May 6, 2004 are hereby expressly incorporated by reference herein for all purposes.
The invention can include a fault-tolerant, three-part [i.e., 3 navigation sources] personnel/asset location system combining a military-quality GPS unit, an advanced low-power Inertial Navigation System (Sensor+custom ORNL electronics), and a robust wide-area RF location scheme designated as the Theater Positioning System (TPS). Internal to the unit is a precision timing, processing, and control module to perform the integration of the position and time data from the 3 navigation subsystems (e.g., from space, terrestrial, and autonomous sources) and provide a composite display for the user. Additional functions of the control module are to assess signal quality and unit health, manage unit power, and to integrate additional, optional devices such as environmental sensors, electronic compass (for magnetic-north headings), inclinometer (to determine the local gravity vertical vector), barometer (to measure local atmospheric pressure and, thus, the inferred altitude). One very useful form of the TRINAV system incorporates a quartz oscillator array (“EQUATE” [described later]) which can both keep accurate time and measure both linear and rotational accelerations (and velocities) experienced by the TRINAV user unit and thus also serve as a medium-grade but very low-cost, low-power INS subsystem.
The principal version of the TPS makes use of a new spread-spectrum RF system transmitting in the same low-frequency (LF) range as the highly reliable and commercially proven LORAN-C (˜80-120 kHz). In its initial configuration, TPS was implemented as a four-band spread signal, with two main components at the band edges (80-90 kHz and 110-120 kHz) to minimize their impact on existing LORAN signals, and two lower-power secondary components overlapping the principal 90-110 kHz region (where ≧99% of the LORAN power resides). Alternatively or additionally, other frequency bands (e.g., in the MF or HF regions) may also be utilized for smaller operational areas or where the size of typical 100-kHz transmitting antennas is undesirable. A currently deployed version of TPS for the Army uses a single spread-spectrum signal at roughly 3.3 MHz, which is intended for testing and training areas about 10-30 square miles in size. The novel TPS RF modulation scheme, although principally direct-sequence (DS) in nature, can also be frequency-modulated using a special hopping protocol, making it very difficult to intercept or jam as well as making it highly noise-resistant. These features are especially important in urban areas. The special hybrid spread-spectrum technique utilized will be described later in detail.
The TPS portion of the invention makes use of modern solid-state modular transmitting hardware that can be deployed either within or external to the theater of operations. Transmit power levels can therefore be determined by the actual placement of the transmitters. Depending upon the transmit power levels (many tens of kilowatts or higher), ranges in excess of 1,000 km can definitely be obtained in the 100-kHz region, with reduced spans at higher frequencies (e.g., 3.3 MHz) due to the higher ground-wave propagation losses. The TPS signals are highly effective in foliage, rough terrain, and in urban areas. These ground-wave signals can complement GPS satellite signals and provide accurate position location in GPS-denied or degraded environments. These new signals of the invention can also permit the wide-area, real-time distribution of precision timing, tactical operational information and DGPS corrections via the embedded TPS navigation data stream. In addition, the TPS signals can be employed within the receiver to validate GPS position in order to dynamically detect multipath, jamming, or spoofing-induced errors in the GPS fix. The longer intrinsic RF wavelengths used in TPS will also facilitate more reliable position solutions in fast-movers and further serve to mitigate the cycle-ambiguity errors sometimes encountered with GPS. These units can also be networked for data reachback using ORNL's LPI/LPD hybrid spread-spectrum signaling protocol, which synergistically combines direct-sequence modulation with coordinated frequency/time hopping to provide an extremely robust, secure, power-efficient data link having excellent multiple-access properties.
The basic operation of the integrated system is represented in
To make such devices useful for navigation, the system incorporates advanced device performance models in its software to more accurately predict the INS subsystem drift and other errors. As depicted in
The final major component of the invention is that of precision timing. Precise time is essential for most operational navigation platforms, particularly when accurate temporal coordination of widely deployed assets is required. Besides being the first component of the standard DoD TSPI requirement, precise timing improves communication networking efficiency (e.g., time-slotting accuracy, code synchronization times, range searching speed) and permits higher system power efficiency (reduced RX operation time) in TDMA networks. Such clocks are also ideal for infrequently transmitting devices with long operational lifetimes such as unattended ground sensors (UGSs). It is desired for a local-device clock oscillator to possess the stability of ovenized quartz or even Rb units, but it must use far less power. An ideal solution to this need is a stabilized oscillator array using technology developed by an ORNL strategic partner and described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/840,092, filed on May 6, 2004. The system is known as EQUATE (Ensemble of Quartz-clocks Adapting To the Environment) and employs an ensemble of coordinated inexpensive quartz oscillators. The array, through special averaging of the multiple independent oscillator output frequencies, can achieve the output stability of a high-quality ovenized oscillator while using a fraction of the power and at a small fraction of the cost. EQUATE can be developed to meet low power, small footprint requirements (including chip-based electronics) and can deliver a high-stability output under harsh environmental conditions. EQUATE prototypes operating at a 10.00-MHz standard frequency already developed at ORNL have demonstrated short-term timing accuracies down into the 1-ns range (3-sec average) and are in the performance range required by the receiver. The next development efforts will be to optimize the long-term drifts, power, and unit packaging for filed deployment.
For more robust applications, the configuration of the 7-oscillator array can be modified from its conventional planar layout on a circuit board to form an essentially cubic module, as depicted in
An overall block diagram of a complete user unit is provided in
Thus, the salient feature of the TRINAV approach is that three (or more) essentially independent sources of navigation data [e.g., space systems such as GPS, terrestrial systems such as TPS or LORAN-C, and autonomous systems such as an INS], combined with an accurate onboard time source [e.g., the EQUATE clock unit], are fully Integrated to provide the user an extremely flexible, reliable, and robust source of navigation data.
The following section describes the basic design of the TPS, which is a frequency-agile, programmable-bandwidth radio navigation system to support soldier training, combat systems testing, and military and civilian operational uses in GPS-denied environments such as dense forest areas, in urban and very rough terrain, and under jamming conditions (both intentional and unintentional). Employing software-defined radio (SDR) techniques, the system is intended to be highly adaptive in order to rapidly adjust to different testing scenarios by changing its frequencies, coding bandwidths, and channeling as required by the specific application. The fundamental basis for the system is a direct sequence spread-spectrum (DSSS) or hybrid spread-spectrum (HSS) signal, which is launched from multiple widely spaced, generally terrestrial transmitters. The radiolocating receiver acquires these continuous, overlapping code-division multiple-access (CDMA) transmitted signals, decodes them, and extracts the transmitter locations and times of transmission from data streams embedded in the respective DSSS or HSS signals, in a manner analogous to GPS units. The radio navigation solutions are then obtained by solving the usual systems of nonlinear pseudorange equations by linearization techniques, Kaman filtering, Allan filtering, multidimensional kernels or other means, but with downstream corrections for the spherical-earth geometry and RF propagation factors governing the ground wave signals. However, there are several significant features of this Theater Positioning System (TPS) which clearly differentiate it from GPS, including its typical operating frequency range (<30 MHz), frequency- and modulation-agile capabilities, propagation modes (principally ground wave), and signal security mechanisms. In addition, the TPS signal structure is specifically designed to provide an effective back-up navigation source to GPS in difficult reception situations and afford maximal rejection of AC power-line noise to improve reception integrity and efficiency in urban areas. The TPS signal format also supports rapid lock-up of the receivers from even a cold start (often termed “time-to-first-fix” [TTFF]) by continually transmitting the exact locations (latitude, longitude, and height or equivalent coordinates) of the transmitters within their respective encapsulated data streams. Unlike in GPS, the receiver can then immediately measure the signals' delays, incorporate the required correction factors, and using the transmitters' coordinates solve for the receiver location. A final feature of the TPS signals permits wide-area broadcasting of low-rate data for commands, differential GPS (DGPS) corrections, differential TPS (DTPS) data, status information, alerts, and the like.
To achieve rapid prototype development, fast reconfiguration, and highly flexible signal-processing architecture control, the vast majority of the TPS hardware has been implemented via highly reconfigurable software-defined radio (SDR) techniques. The platforms for most of the TPS subsystems are custom, small, low-power circuit boards using FPGAs as the core logic elements, augmented by high-performance A/D and D/A converters to convert the analog RF signals to and from the digital domain. A model-based design environment utilizing MATLAB® and Simulink® modeling tools, coupled with the Xilinx System Generator™ FPGA-design add-in module, are employed by the invention to permit an efficient, tightly coupled design/test/update system implementation cycle and to provide rapid system alterations as required.
The Theater Positioning System (TPS) incorporates a highly accurate and robust method for providing navigation information in operational military and other scenarios when and where standard GPS signals may be impaired due to such causes as multipath, RF interference, and/or active jamming by an adversary. Specifically, the TPS concept involves the use of a novel hybrid (combined direct-sequence/frequency/time-hopping) spread-spectrum RF transmission scheme which operates typically (but not necessarily) in the 80-120 kHz LF frequency range utilized in standard LORAN-C pulsed navigation transmissions. Specialized spread-spectrum codes are employed to provide high process gains (e.g., ≧30 dB) to provide effective rejection of impulse noise and other sources of RF interference, including standard LORAN-C signals. Furthermore, the signal timing parameters are optimized for maximum immunity (on the order of 25-30 dB) from pickup of power-line related noise components in the TPS receiver by use of intrinsic data rates (prior to spreading) that are exact sub-multiples of the power-line frequency (i.e., 10-Hz bit rate, which is an exact sub-multiple of both 50 and 60 Hz). The basic TPS RF waveform is easily generated with conventional logic hardware and/or DDS (direct digital synthesis) devices readily available in the commercial market. The signal security and robustness lies principally in the use of customized spreading codes which are programmably related (i.e., segmented) between the direct-sequence and hopping modulation components. A navigation data stream of nominally 40 bits/sec for the preferred ABCD signal format in the 80-120 kHz band (20 bits/sec for the simpler AB band-edge add-on signal format for best LORAN-C compatibility) is also encapsulated within the spread-spectrum signal(s). This data can be used for TPS signal propagation prediction correction parameters, (much as the GPS concept provides ephemeris corrections via the 50-bits/sec GPS navigation stream) and for other signaling functions (
Another typical format for the TPS involves the use of a low-HF signal in the vicinity of 3.3 MHz for short-range but more precise positioning applications. A navigation data stream of nominally 120 bits/sec (for this carrier, with its 61.38-kHz I/Q chip rates) is used with this version of the TPS signal, to concurrently provide faster lock-up and excellent rejection of 60-Hz power-line related noise components. This data can be used for TPS operational parameters, signal propagation prediction correction (much as the GPS concept provides ephemeris corrections via the 50-bits/sec GPS navigation stream), and for other signaling functions (
An additional key feature of the system involves the active, automatic locking of the multiple, remotely located TPS transmitters to a common frequency/timing reference source such as that obtainable via specialized GPS receivers and local clock oscillators. The extremely tight frequency/phase lock (usually to better than ˜1 part in 1011) is required to provide stable relative phases between the various TPS transmitters' signals, which are required to maintain good positioning accuracy and signal quality at the TPS receivers in the field.
A major operational concern in the deployment of U.S. military, emergency, and law-enforcement personnel is the nearly exclusive dependence on the GPS satellite constellation for accurate position information in the field. Since GPS signals are comparatively weak (˜10-15 dB below the typical background RF noise floor) and subject to significant degradation from multipath and RF interference (intentional and unintentional), the use of GPS is at times unreliable and even subject to deception (“spoofing”) by an adversary [3]. The obvious consequences of inaccurate position information can be severe, up to and including loss of life of both friendly forces and/or noncombatants (civilians). Although inertial navigation systems (INS) have been proposed as short-term backups to GPS reception during outage periods, these units are in general too costly, heavy, bulky, inaccurate, and/or power-hungry to be deployed except in a few specialized applications. For the dismounted soldier, law-enforcement officer, or emergency crew-member and most platforms, a much more robust, inexpensive, and reliable GPS augmentation technique is needed, especially where outages may be of extended durations. For broad application areas, an RF approach is desirable; in addition, the use of ground-wave LF- to HF-band transmissions (depending on range) is radically different in propagation characteristics from GPS and thus provides a significant measure of signal diversity between the two radiolocation schemes. Further, the use of the TPS signals as a backup to GPS navigation offers far more consistent coverage than with GPS alone, since the low-frequency TPS signals can easily penetrate into most buildings, heavy foliage, urban terrain, and other areas where GPS signals are weak, unreliable, or even unavailable. Such expanded coverage is essential for successful operations in urban areas, very rough terrain, or in tropical or heavily forested regions. Furthermore, due to the extremely low signal strengths of the GPS satellite beacon transmitters at the GPS receiver, GPS signals are virtually always unusable indoors because of the additional attenuation of the overhead satellite signals by building roofs, upper floors, and other overhead structures, as well as trees and dense foliage in general. In addition, in “urban canyons” and in very rugged terrain, often there are too few GPS satellites in direct line-of-sight view of the receiver to obtain a sufficiently accurate (or timely) position fix. Again, TPS provides a much-needed improvement in locating-system reliability.
The TPS concept involves the use of a power-efficient, constant-envelope [1] direct-sequence spread-spectrum [2] RF transmission scheme which operates typically (but not necessarily) in the 80-120 kHz LF frequency range utilized in standard LORAN-C pulsed navigation transmissions. In
Alternatively, other frequency bands may be employed for the TPS as application requirements dictate. The efficient translation of the transmitting and receiving hardware to new frequencies, bandwidths, and data rates is accomplished via software-defined radio (SDR) techniques, which facilitate efficient, rapid design, prototyping, and testing through the use of modern reprogrammable FPGA devices which contain the digital signal processing hardware and even advanced software-controlled microprocessors. The latest version of TPS developed at ORNL operates at roughly 3.3 MHz to meet current Army system operational requirements for small-area testing and training activities.
Multiple, continuously broadcasting TPS transmitters are deployed around the desired coverage area in a code-division, multiple-access (CDMA) scheme. Specialized spread-spectrum codes are employed to provide high process gains (e.g., ≧30 dB) to provide effective rejection of impulse noise and other sources of RF interference, including standard LORAN-C signals or other types of in-band signals. Further, the signal timing parameters are optimized for maximum immunity (on the order of 20-30 dB) from pickup of power-line related noise components in the TPS receiver. For the 3.3-MHz carrier system with its nominal 61.38-kHz I/Q chip rates (1023×60 Hz), a navigation data stream of nominally 120 bits/sec is also encapsulated within the spread-spectrum signal; this data is used for TPS parameters, signal propagation prediction correction data (much as the GPS concept provides ephemeris corrections via the 50-bits/sec GPS navigation stream), and for other signaling functions. An additional key feature of the system involves the active, automatic locking of the multiple, remotely located TPS transmitters to a common frequency/timing reference source such as that obtainable via specialized GPS receivers and highly stable local clock oscillators. The extremely tight frequency/phase lock (usually to better than ˜1 part in 1011) is required to provide stable relative phases between the various TPS transmitters' signals, which are required to maintain good positioning accuracy and signal quality at the TPS receivers in the field.
Suitably stable reference sources other than GPS can alternatively be employed, including signals from WWVB, LORAN-C, OMEGA, and other sources such as GOES satellites, CDMA cell-phone base stations, and (with appropriate averaging techniques) one of several VLF, LF, or HF standard-frequency broadcast signals including WWV, WWVH, CHU, NAA, NLK, NSS, NPM, etc. In general, the stability of the VLF and LF signals markedly exceed (˜1 part in 1010 to 1011) those of the HF stations (˜1 part in 107). Standard AM broadcasting (540-1700 kHz), international shortwave broadcasting, and analog television broadcasting in both U.S. and foreign venues may also be used as stable reference sources, with appropriate signal processing and averaging techniques.
The basic configuration of the TPS scheme is shown in the accompanying diagram of
TPS typically operates to determine the position of a user's receiver by acquiring signals transmitted by a group of TPS transmitters distributed in a region on the surface of the earth. The TPS transmitters employ direct digital synthesizer (DDS) hardware driven by the local precision timekeeping oscillators to generate highly stable spread-spectrum waveforms which will then be amplified to the required RF power levels and broadcast through specially characterized, vertically polarized antennas for greater coverage and ease of deployment. The user's position on the surface of the earth is calculated relative to the center of the earth [in 3 dimensions] or relative to the surface of the earth [for 2 dimensions] by multilateration based on signals received from multiple (usually 4 or more) TPS transmitters. The distance from the user to a transmitter is computed by measuring the propagation time required for a direct-sequence spread spectrum “ranging code” signal transmitted by a given transmitter to reach the receiver. A fourth transmitter is employed to permit a simultaneous solution of both the position and the system time. This avoids the need for a costly super-accurate clock in the TPS receiver.
A ranging code is a pseudorandom code sequence that is generated by a polynomial generator according to a known algorithm, each bit of which is called a “chip” to distinguish it from the true data bits that might form a message encoded onto the ranging code. A “chip” is a single bit in a pseudorandom code sequence used to spread the spectrum of an information signal. The pseudorandom ranging code sequence, when broadcast by radio, has a spectrum that has widely dispersed sidebands relative to the carrier frequency, and thus is referred to as a “spread-spectrum” signal. Spread-spectrum signals are known to have desirable characteristics for data security and resistance to radio-frequency (RF) interference.
Within a TPS receiver, an identical ranging code signal is generated and shifted in time (or phase) until it achieves correlation with the specific transmitter-generated ranging code being acquired. The magnitude of the time shift of the identical ranging code signal within the receiver relative to the transmitted ranging code provides a time differential that is related to the transmitter-to-user range. To determine user position in three dimensions, range measurements are made to a plurality of transmitters, resulting in four (or more) simultaneous ranging equations that have four (or more) unknowns. These equations can be solved by computer systems to determine the values of x, y, z (the 3-dimensional location of the user's receiver), and Δt, which is a clock error. There are several closed-form solutions furnished in the navigation literature for solving the equation to determine the unknown quantities. The positioning is in general accomplished by determining the time-of-flight of the signals from at least 4 TPS transmitters, and by careful processing of the real-time data from the multiple transmitter clocks (and other, small corrections) the actual distances are computed; the common solution to the set simultaneous distance equations, coupled to the known transmitter locations, provides the TPS receiver's position.
There are two basic techniques employed with the TPS architecture to deal with the well known “near-far” problem encountered with standard CDMA systems, which require that all of the various CDMA signals be of comparable (ideally, the same) levels at the receiver's input. In typical CDMA cellular phone systems, the varying received levels from different units in the field are countered via a closed-loop power-control methodology, where the individual cell phone senses the base station's incoming signal level and then adjusts its own transmit power accordingly as a first estimate. The base station then sends control data back to the phone to fine-tune its power to within 1-2 dB. The resulting small level errors among the various phones received by the base station's master receiver are easily handled in the simultaneous detection/correlation CDMA receiver. Since the various spreading codes are sufficiently orthogonal to mask these amplitude errors, no false correlations occur and the signals are all still separable. Similarly in GPS, the satellites' C/A 1023-length Gold codes are all approximately mutually orthogonal (˜22-24 dB) and the level variations at the receiver are typically no worse than about ±6 dB, since the satellites all have roughly the signal strengths at the GPS receiver due to similar path losses (though somewhat more near the horizon). Thus, the GPS signals are always adequately separable in the receiver unless there are local structures or terrain features obstructing some of the signals. GPS does not employ any form of transmitted power control, but the system propagation parameters just described obviate the need for such.
TPS likewise does not normally employ dynamic power control, although the transmitters' power levels can be adjusted in the field (or remotely) for best, most uniform signal coverage in the desired service area. Unfortunately, since the TPS ground-based receivers can be located relatively much closer to one of the transmitters than the others, it is quite likely that a wide disparity in the levels of the incoming TPS signals will be encountered by the TPS user, perhaps approaching 30 dB, depending on his relative position and the local terrain losses. Assuming for TPS a similar set of 1023-length spread-spectrum codes (e.g., Gold or Kasami polynomials) with comparable mutual code orthogonalities (˜22 dB worst-case), then for adequate code separability in the receiver correlators, a safely allowable “near-far” amplitude ratio among the CDMA signals would be about 12 dB (leaving about 10 dB above the multiple-access noise level for proper post-correlation data detection). The interference-canceling (I-C) receiver topology of
The TPS transmitters employ direct digital synthesizer (DDS) hardware driven by the local precision timekeeping oscillators to generate highly stable direct-sequence (DSSS) or hybrid spread-spectrum (HSS) waveforms which will then be amplified to the required RF power levels and broadcast through specially characterized, physically short, vertically polarized antennas for greater ease of deployment. Since the RF wavelength at 100 kHz is 3000 m, it is very desirable to utilize wire-antenna arrays to minimize the needed vertical height. One such antenna is the “Star-H”, originally designed by Star-H Corporation of State College, Pa. and currently manufactured for AM broadcasting frequencies by Kintronic Labs in Bluff City, Tenn. At the nominal 100-kHz center frequency, the commercial “KinStar” design would consist of four wires in an inverted-L quadrapole configuration, each roughly 756 ft (230.43 m) high and 1680 ft (512.065 m) long, arranged in 4 quadrants around a central circle of 168 ft (51.21 m) diameter. Such a structure could be easily fabricated with a common center-lift arrangement for rapid setup via balloon or aerostat launch, as shown in
Transmitter Implementation
The basic TPS transmitter signal source, as shown in
Receiver Implementation
The front end of the basic dual-conversion TPS radiolocation receiver is shown in block diagram form in
The low-IF signals are converted to baseband (via NCO2906 and its associated multiplier/mixers) in an extended Costas loop circuit that provides spread-spectrum chip demodulation, correlation, and synchronization. However, since chip-based ranging alone cannot achieve the required radiolocation accuracy at the relatively low carrier frequencies for TPS (as compared with GPS), the normal Costas demodulator is augmented with a secondary carrier-phase detection loop (the CDLL) which can lock to within better than 0.3° (within ±1 part in 1024 of the carrier cycle). In acquisition, the carrier phase is first estimated and an initial sequence of chips is correlated and demodulated. The tandem programmable delay registers (DLY) 907 adjust the timing of the downsampling blocks (DS1, DS2) 908 of the I and Q baseband signals, which in turn feed the respective channel correlators 1001 and 1003 of
The outputs of the I and Q correlators (
Navigation Algorithms
As mentioned above, the multilateration radiolocation algorithms for TPS are generally similar to those used in GPS [3, 4] except for the addition of great-circle corrections to accurately represent the lengths of the ground-wave propagation paths on the nearly spherical earth and (obviously) the deletion of the satellite almanac and ephemeris data. In most operational scenarios, the TPS transmitters will be locked to GPS time with very high-quality clocks; plus, their locations will be pre-surveyed and will be known to fractions of a meter. The respective TPS data streams will thus provide all the information needed by the receiver (except for onboard-stored local propagation-correction tables) to accurately compute its position. Due to the finite conductivity of the earth's surface, and local variations due to surface types (i.e., land or water), soil, moisture content, temperature, and (to a lesser extent) season, the average signal velocity at LF must be reduced by roughly 0.15%. In addition, the curved path on the earth's surface requires generic great-circle distance computations, plus some additional corrections for local-area topographical irregularities. All these corrections are performed by the TPS navigation software.
Within each channel of a TPS receiver, an identical (replica) ranging code signal is generated and shifted in time (or phase) until it achieves peak correlation with the specific transmitter-generated ranging code being acquired. The magnitude of the time shift of the identical ranging code signal within the receiver relative to the transmitter transmitted ranging code provides a time differential that is related to the transmitter-to-user range. To determine user position in three dimensions, range measurements are made to multiple transmitters, resulting in at least four simultaneous ranging equations with four unknowns. These equations can be solved by computational algorithms to determine the values of x, y, z (the 3-dimensional location of the user's receiver), and Δt, which is a clock error. There are several closed-form solutions available for solving the equation to determine the unknown quantities. The positioning is in general accomplished by determining the time-of-flight of the signals from at least 4 TPS transmitters, and by careful processing of the real-time data from the multiple transmitter clocks (and other, small corrections) the actual distances are computed; the common solution to the set of simultaneous distance equations, coupled to the known transmitter locations, provides the TPS receiver's position. Thus, the equivalent geometric range is given by:
r=c(Tu−Ts)=cΔt, (1)
where:
For TPS, the usual rectilinear path computations used in GPS ranging have been altered to accommodate the ground-wave propagation and great-circle path distances. This is done by adjusting the equivalent speed of the wave for the slower propagation along the earth's surface. The curved-path distances may then converted to the equivalent chord distances to utilize the normal rectilinear distance equations. The ground wave follows the great-circle distance between two points on the earth's surface (assumed spherical), which can be computed by the following formula, where δ1 and φ1 are the latitude and longitude respectively of the first point, and δ2 and φ2 are those of the second. If r is the earth's radius (approximately 6367 km on average), then the great-circle distanced is approximately:
d(δ1,φ1,δ2,φ2)=r cos−1[sin δ1 sin δ2+cos δ1 cos δ2 cos(φ1−φ2)], (2)
or, in a form with smaller rounding errors,
d(δ1,φ1,δ2,φ2)=2r sin−1{sin2[(δ1−δ2)/2]+cos δ1 cos δ2 sin2[(φ1−φ2)/2]}1/2 (3)
In these terms, the pseudorange is given by:
and the 4 pseudoranges are thus:
ρ1=[(x1−xu)2+(y1−yu)2+(z1−zu)2]1/2+ctu (5)
ρ2=[(x2−xu)2+(y2−yu)2+(z2−zu)2]1/2+ctu (6)
ρ3=[(x3−xu)2+(y3−yu)2+(z3−zu)2]1/2+ctu (7)
ρ4=[(x4−xu)2+(y4−yu)2+(z4−zu)2]1/2+ctu (8)
These nonlinear equations may be solved by either closed-form methods [5], iterative techniques based on linearization, or by Kalman filtering [6], Allan filtering, multidimensional kernels [7], or other equivalent estimation algorithms. Note that in the case where a good common-time reference exists between the transmitters and receiver, the various δt and tu terms become vanishingly small. In the preferred TPS system implementation, highly stable rubidium or even cesium clocks would be employed at the distributed transmitter sites to maintain an extremely stable common time base, which will be augmented by periodic cross-checks with the GPS constellation via advanced common-view techniques to assure accurate wide-area time commonality (to perhaps a few nanoseconds).
The overall locating algorithm, illustrated in
Some details of the Newton-Raphson and Extended Kalman filter methods are shown in
The overall performance of TPS is, as with all radiolocation systems, determined by the precision (resolution) of the transmitter and receiver electronics (e.g., number of bits, sampling rates, internal clock frequency errors, and jitter) as well as systematic properties including transmitter clock errors, uncertainties in propagation-time predictions, and noise backgrounds. The basic positioning precision is dependent on the phase resolution of the receiver carrier-phase loop, which is from 0.35° down to 0.09° (10 to 12 bits). Expected noise variances in the system (assuming good signal-to-noise conditions and ˜1 second averaging times) are in the range of 1° down to 0.3°. Near 100 kHz, this represents a 2-D locating precision of about 10 down to 3 meters; at 3.3 MHz, this yields an equivalent X-Y locating precision of roughly 0.3 to 0.1 meters, depending on signal strengths. Laboratory measurements of the hardware have confirmed this number. A major benefit of the TPS signal format is the ability to achieve a rapid position solution. From initialization, the time-to-first-fix (TIFF) is designed to be in seconds, rather than minutes, as is often the case with GPS.
As with GPS, multipath is a major limiting factor (and by nature the least well-defined error source) in the overall accuracy for field applications. In the 100-kHz LF and 3.3-MHz HF groundwave versions, the wavelengths are so long that multipath per se is not a real problem, though delayed skywave signals can be; in the LOS version (e.g., at ˜2.45-GHz), the problems are similar to those in GPS (˜1.575 GHz) and require corresponding but familiar solutions. Interestingly, the effects of skywave signal contamination over shorter baselines (perhaps up to 1500 km) for the LF version of TPS are similar to those of multipath in conventional LOS systems, in that a second, indirect signal (the skywave component) often arrives well within the period of a chip, thus distorting the ideally triangular correlation waveform and obscuring the true peak, which indicates the relative time-of-arrival of the main signal component. The measured peak time (and thus the calculated path length, is either advanced (positive range error) or retarded in time (negative range error) compared with the actual, depending on whether the effective multipath is essentially additive (retarded) or subtractive (advanced). Several techniques to minimize the effect of second-path (skywave) signals, adapted from GPS signal processing, have proven effective in simulations at LF. However, at LF skywave signals can, at larger distances, actually precede the groundwave, which can also be significantly weaker; thus, the usual GPS multipath solutions, which assume the secondary wave arrives later, often do not work effectively for skywave discrimination. One useful methodology is to employ a short-pulse correlation waveform in lieu of the conventional rectangular waveform corresponding to the binary PN code (see
An additional aspect of the TPS concept lies in the use of all three typical modes of RF signal propagation—ground wave, sky wave, and direct wave, based on the frequency and antenna configuration. For instance, as in the previous examples, the usual mode of operation is groundwave for the 100-kHz and 3.3-MHz systems, but skywave components can also be utilized for radiolocation measurements, although with generally lower accuracy. As a major benefit of skywave operation, the vertical elevation of a TPS receiver can be determined to a reasonable precision, since the angles of arrival of the skywave components will often approach 45 degrees (the general ranges of angles in GPS) and thus permit a vertical dilution-of-precision (VDOP) is around 2-3, about the same as with GPS, since the earth's ionosphere is not overly stable in its effective height and reflection characteristics versus frequency. This is a function of time of day, solar illumination levels, season, solar storms, and the like. To achieve good vertical accuracy, it is desirable to incorporate one or more differential measurement receivers in the vicinity of the user's unit to provide ongoing ionospheric delay data between the TPS transmitters and the target area. Furthermore, in the HF case the “vertical” TPS measurements may not necessarily be conducted at the nominal groundwave frequency due to the highly variable absorption characteristics of the ionosphere versus frequency. If the ionosphere is severely absorptive at the nominal frequency of the groundwave, the skywave signal may well utilize a significantly different frequency to achieve reasonable signal strengths at the TPS receiving site. Although at LF (˜100 kHz) the ionosphere does not have significant loss during daylight hours (perhaps ˜25 dB), at lower HF-range frequencies the daytime losses can be extremely large (>70 dB). In that case, a higher frequency (usually between 3 and 12 MHz) is often required for successful daytime skywave HF TPS operation. This, of course, requires a second-frequency, agile TPS transmitter and receiver set. In practice, the secondary frequency would usually be specified within the data-stream sent via the main ground-wave signals, decoded at the main TPS frequency by the area differential (DTPS) receivers, and used to set the receive frequencies for the skywave channels.
In the case of much higher-frequency operation (>80 MHz), where the RF propagation is essentially line-of-sight, the TPS system can be used to provide accurate ranging information for airborne platforms, including missiles, fixed-wing, and rotary-wing types, and for general on-ground use from higher elevations such as hills or towers. For aircraft, this implementation would typically embody multiple ground-mounted (slightly elevated) TPS transmitters, with the corresponding receivers on the airborne platforms. As an example, the frequency band of 2400-2483.5 MHz (the license-free ISM “2.45-GHz” band) could be utilized in a single-band mode with a nominal center frequency of 2440 MHz and a per-phase (I/Q) spread-spectrum chipping rate of 40 Mb/s. These figures would provide a carrier-to-chipping rate ratio of 61, which is very workable in terms of obtaining unambiguous ranging (no carrier-cycle ambiguities as in GPS). The corresponding chip time of 25 ns would correspond to an effective resolution of about 1.25 ft (for 0.1 chip with OQPSK-type modulation) or several times better with averaging. However, a typical preferred TPS system implementation in this band, along the lines of the configuration described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,556,942 (issued Apr. 29, 2003 to one of the present inventors), for reasons to be explained shortly, would use two carrier frequencies, for example at 2409.165 and 2475.66 MHz, each with I/Q quadrature chipping modulation rates of 5.115 Mb/s. Both TPS carriers are precisely phase and frequency locked to the common chip-rate clock source, which here is presumed to be precisely 10.23 MHz, the same as in GPS. The resulting effective chip times (including the offset I and Q chip-stream modulation) would thus be ˜97.75 ns; for a nominal resolution of 0.03 chip, the equivalent distance (delay) would be ˜0.91 m or 3 ft (about 3 ns). Of course, much higher resolution can be obtained via the use of carrier-phase ranging in addition to the chip-based correlation, since like GPS the TPS signals are specifically designed to have tightly defined carrier and chip transitions which are phase-synchronous. As long as the main chip correlator in the TPS receiver can successfully lock within a reasonably small fraction of a chip (i.e., 0.05 to 0.01), then if the ratio of the carrier frequency to the chipping rate is no less than the lock as a fraction of a chip, then the carrier phase can be unambiguously determined from the signal [unlike in GPS, where the carrier interval is only 1/1540 of the chip time (for the C/A code), causing integer carrier-cycle ambiguities in the code correlator-derived pseudorange values]. Here, in the LOS TPS example, the chip-to-carrier period ratio tc÷tchip=5.115/2409.165=1/471, which is clearly still too small to be workable. However, if both carrier frequencies are (after amplification) processed by mixing in the TPS receiver to derive a synchronous difference-frequency signal Δf=66.495 MHz (with a wavelength of ˜4.5116 m), then the chip-to-difference period ratio is now tchip÷tΔ=5.115/66.495=1/13, which is quite easily handled without a risk of difference-cycle ambiguity. An additional advantage to the two-carrier system, like GPS with both L1 (1575.42 MHz) and L2 (1227.6 MHz) frequencies, is that the propagation group delay through typical dispersive dielectric media (such as the ionosphere or plasmas within thunderstorm cells) is approximately inversely proportional to the square of the carrier frequency. Thus, corrections can be made for the typical above case of f1=2409.165 and f2=2475.66 MHz; as long as there is no integer-cycle ambiguity, as is the case here, the incremental delay ratio can be determined rather accurately—1.05596 . . . , which leads to the equation for ρ, the corrected code pseudorange measurement through such dispersive media:
ρ=[f12÷(f12−f22)]ρ1−[f22÷(f12−f22)]ρ2, (9)
where f1 and f2 are the two carrier frequencies and ρ1 and ρ2 are the corresponding pseudorange measurements. This equation can largely compensate for the frequency-dependent signal delays as the properties of the medium change with time, temperature, humidity, and the like. This general effect also applies to ground-waves passing over the earth and is thus a differential correction technique which can appreciably improve the accuracy of the signal group-delay measurements through any dispersive time-varying media. A similar equation may be utilized successfully to correct the carrier-phase pseudorange (phase-delay) measurements, although in some media the carrier pseudorange error can be greater than the wavelengths involved, thus rendering ambiguity resolution difficult without other techniques such as spatially differential operation. (Of course, normal air is essentially a non-dispersive medium and thus does not exhibit this frequency-dependent behavior). For the LF TPS case, the nominal frequencies of 85 and 115 kHz can be employed with this same correction methodology (although using a much-reduced correction factor) to obtain more precise estimates of the ground-wave signal delays.
A more detailed pictorial drawing of the signal propagation paths is shown in
The 3-D LF/HF TPS receiver, shown in
The interference-cancelling (I-C) TPS receiver shown in
A flow chart describing the basic operation of the multi-channel LF TPS receiver is shown in
From the code correlators the data bits then are sent to the data-stream decoder 1805 to extract the TPS TX locations, system time, health, status bits, correction factors, and other pertinent information; these are stripped out and sent to the pseudorange/time/quality (PTQ) data-validation stage 1807. Meanwhile, the pseudoranges and time values (PRT) from the respective TPS transmitters are processed at 1806 to provide the tentative TPS navigation solution. In addition, the status of the various TPS receiver-system signals is assimilated in the Signal Quality Assessment block 1808. These signals include, but are not necessarily limited to, the incoming signal strength (1810), noise-limiting action, correlation peak shape and amplitude (1809), and receiver PLL feedback error signal (1811) statistics (e.g., variance and mean) as well as any static loop biases, which are often indicative of jamming or severe interference. Once all the associated data is analyzed in the PTQ block 1807, the verified TPS fixes, plus the individual pseudoranges and status information, is sent on to the main TRINAV processing unit at shown at 1812.
An overall flow chart for the navigational operation of the main TRINAV unit is shown in
At power-up (1901), the TRINAV unit begins self-initialization (1902) and sends internal commands to initialize the semi-independent GPS, TPS, and INS modules as well (1903). At 1904, the main operational loop starts by requesting that the respective GPS, TPS, and INS units begin acquiring their individual, independent fixes (1905). Normally the GPS receiver takes from 30 seconds to several minutes to obtain its first fix and the INS may take somewhat longer to initialize and orient itself before producing stable fix data, so generally the TPS unit provides the initial TRINAV system fix. In addition, the TPS subsystem can also assist in the TRINAV orientation process, assisting the compass and inclinometer is establishing the 3 orthogonal axial references. Next, as the GPS fixes are acquired, more cross-comparisons between the GPS, TPS, and INS data can be performed. In normal, ongoing loop operation, the basic signal-integrity tests begin at 1906, where the GPS fix is tested for sufficiency, consistency, stability, and overall validity. Obviously, if a given GPS satellite transmits a bad health message, the fix from that source (both pseudorange and time) will be excluded from the composite GPS solution presented to TRINAV; a corresponding action will also occur for TPS. If, however, there are still a sufficient number of good satellite signals to produce a high-quality fix, then the decision from block 1906 will be “Yes” and TRINAV will proceed to output the GPS fix as its final solution. However, if after the test at 1906 the result is “No”, TRINAV will then seek the TPS fix data. At 1907 a similar test occurs; if TPS is judged good, the fix will be used by TRINAV. If not, then the GPS (1908) and TPS (1909) data are examined together to determine if a hybrid GPS/TPS fix is possible (1910). If a composite fix can be successfully calculated and verified via the associated signal-quality data, then the output of the algorithm uses that. This flow is principally focused on the horizontal-plane (XY) location process, since TPS is often used as a 2-D system due to its typical planar (surface) geometry. For the vertical (Z) dimension, the process is similar except that the TPS fix is not usually included. If the 3-D version of the TPS receiver is present in the TRINAV system, TPS will be incorporated in the vertical-positioning process, though on a weighted basis due to the greater variances for the Z axis in the normal 3-D TPS fix. If GPS and TPS together do not have enough vectors to complete a valid fix, then the TRINAV unit reverts to internal timekeeping and turns to the INS for a temporary location solution (1911). Assuming the INS has been properly initialized and locked, its fix will then be passed on to the output. If not (as determined in block 1911), a navigational-failure error is set (1912) and the unit proceeds through the convergence node 1913 to the output and display block 1914 and the fix and status data are displayed for the user. The unit then stores all data for future processing updates (1915). If the GPS and TPS fixes are deemed good, the block at 1915 also performs recalibration of the TPS propagation-correction (ASF) data and re-calibrates the current fix data for the INS to cancel its own internal drifts. After these actions, the TRINAV navigation cycle repeats (1916). In all cases, the pertinent fix and signal-quality data are always passed on for future updates, performance analysis, and quality-of-service (QoS) assessments within the TRINAV user unit.
The high-level flow diagram for the orientation process for the TRINAV user unit is shown in
an early-arriving, inverted skywave with a smaller groundwave component. Since at LF and with relatively low spread-spectrum chipping rates (e.g., a few kHz), skywaves tend to arrive well within a one-chip time window of the groundwave signal. In
As an additional navigation aid, the TPS receiver element can be equipped with a novel 3-axis magnetic antenna/sensor module, comprised of 3 orthogonally positioned (X, Y, and Z) high-μ ferrite rod-based flux-gate sensors. These sensors utilize the flux-gate drive windings as a set of 3 bi-directional low- to medium-frequency (˜50 kHz to 5 MHz) magnetic loopstick antennas. The TPS front-end antenna-interface electronics, once a TPS position fix has been obtained, amplifies, digitizes, and vector-rotates these 3 signals to electronically scan or rotate the antennas; this action is coordinated internally in the TRINAV unit with the multiple TPS spread-spectrum correlators and used to calculate the heading from the receiver to each TPS transmitter. The net result of these computations is a TPS-derived heading for the receiver, essentially independent of local perturbations of the earth's magnetic field.
System Benefits
The invention, known as TRI•NAV™, is a fault-tolerant, triparte personnel/asset location system combining an advanced low-power Inertial Navigation System (inertial sensor array+custom ORNL electronics) with precision timing, a military-quality GPS unit, and a robust, agile wide-area RF location scheme designated as the Theater Positioning System (TPS). The salient features of the TRI•NAV system are: (1) high-accuracy, reliable navigation in GPS-denied or degraded environments due to jamming or terrain, even during extended outages; (2) completely independent wide-area navigation and tactical messaging via the TPS signals; (3) fast time-to-first-fix (TTFF) figures via TPS; and (4) very high reliability, due to the inherent redundancy, cross-checking, and cross-calibration of the GPS, TPS, INS, and clock elements in the TRI•NAV receiver unit. TRI•NAV employs a specialized Allan-filter based algorithm to reject data from poor-quality navigation sources and produce a composite position output which is better than the best of the sources. Another advantage of this Allan filter is its ability to significantly reduce the ranging and orientation errors from both white Gaussian and dispersive, random-walk-like processes; typical averaging, Kalman filters, and the like have not been hitherto successful in reducing these latter noise effects. The TRI•NAV user unit can also provide superior short-term and long-term navigation accuracy (both with and without GPS signals) by utilizing the TPS signals for long-term backup to GPS and simultaneously offers the ability to efficiently accommodate a wide range of INS quality levels and thus cost, size and power specs.
The invention can provide greatly demonstrable advantages over GPS-only systems in urban areas, heavily forested regions, and inside most buildings, where the TPS signals can penetrate but GPS cannot, or when GPS signals are subject to jamming or unintentional RF interference. In addition, even in the few situations where the low-frequency terrestrial TPS signals are difficult to receive, such as those heavily shielded against RF signals or principally metallic in construction, in underground areas such as mines, tunnels, and secure facilities, or in the internal areas of large buildings, high-rises, and the like, the INS portion of the invention will continue to provide accurate navigation information, from short to long intervals. This depends on the drift rates—and, thus, cost—of the INS/IMU component of the invention. In addition, the invention permits greatly improved accuracy of the TPS and INS data by providing continual cross-calibration of location and trajectory data with the corresponding GPS/TPS data (assuming, of course, that the GPS/TPS signal qualities are adequate). The system also permits effective automatic initialization and ongoing periodic recalibration of the unit's magnitude constants (sensitivities) and orientation vectors via the use of ancillary magnetometers, inclinometers, and barometers to enhance the setup, stability, and drift characteristics of the INS subsystem, without any user intervention. This recalibration process further permits the effective use of much less costly, lower power INS components for a given level of overall system performance. The concept also provides faster GPS/TPS signal reacquisition times after loss of lock, GPS anti-spoofing detection, and better INS and overall navigation performance assessment. A major advantage to the concept is in the variety of deployment scenarios, to meet a wide range of performance and cost goals. For instance, the invention can typically be deployed on any of 4 levels of sophistication, size, power requirements, and cost, based on the intended application: (1) a very low-cost gyro-less system, which in addition to the standard GPS and TPS receivers, would use for the INS subsystem a simple pair of 2-axis MEMS accelerometers, orthogonally mounted, augmented with a modest-cost flux-gate compass and the inherent inclinometer obtained from the 2 accelerometer signal pairs; (2) a next-higher-grade system, incorporating all the above INS components plus a trio of MEMS gyros, which would augment the flux-gate compass and the inherent inclinometer; alternatively, the EQUATE quartz-oscillator ensemble could be employed as a medium-grade 6-axis velocity sensor to substitute for the individual trio of accelerometers gyros; and (3) a still higher-grade system, incorporating all the above INS components but with a trio of higher-quality MEMS gyros (drifts <<1 deg/min, which would be augmented and recalibrated by the flux-gate compass and the inherent inclinometer obtained from the 2 accelerometer signal pairs; and (4) a top-grade system, incorporating all the above INS components but using a trio of tactical- or full navigation-grade gyros (MEMS or optical) with drifts <<0.1 deg/hr, which would be augmented and recalibrated/initialized by the flux-gate compass and the inherent inclinometer obtained from the 2 accelerometer signal pairs. The use of typical good quality flux-gate magnetometers can provide a north heading accuracy of about ±1°; assuming a reasonably known magnetic environment (not much ferrous metal nearby) and using the inclinometer function available from the 2 orthogonal accelerometers, within the system context, even typical automotive-grade MEMS gyros (e.g., the Analog Devices ADXRS150 with specified drift of 70°/hr or ˜1.2°/min) can be held to orientation errors of roughly ±1° over time, which is more than adequate for most personnel and vehicular applications. All 5 configurations of the invention just described could also use the accelerometers or gyros (if adequately precise and stable) for accurate north finding if sufficient time is available (˜20-30 min). In addition, the use of magnetic-north vector trajectory tracking can be used in conjunction with successive GPS/TPS fixes to back-calibrate the magnetic compass to true north and provide automatic magnetic declination corrections in the field.
An embodiment of the invention can also be included in a kit-of-parts. The kit-of-parts can include some, or all, of the components that an embodiment of the invention includes. The kit-of-parts can be an in-the-field retrofit kit-of-parts to improve existing systems that are capable of incorporating an embodiment of the invention. The kit-of-parts can include software, firmware and/or hardware for carrying out an embodiment of the invention. The kit-of-parts can also contain instructions for practicing an embodiment of the invention. Unless otherwise specified, the components, software, firmware, hardware and/or instructions of the kit-of-parts can be the same as those used in an embodiment of the invention.
The term program and/or the phrase computer program are intended to mean a sequence of instructions designed for execution on a computer system (e.g., a program and/or computer program, may include a subroutine, a function, a procedure, an object method, an object implementation, an executable application, an applet, a servlet, a source code, an object code, a shared library/dynamic load library and/or other sequence of instructions designed for execution on a computer or computer system). The phrase radio frequency is intended to mean frequencies less than or equal to approximately 300 GHz as well as the infrared spectrum.
The term substantially is intended to mean largely but not necessarily wholly that which is specified. The term approximately is intended to mean at least close to a given value (e.g., within 10% of). The term generally is intended to mean at least approaching a given state. The term coupled is intended to mean connected, although not necessarily directly, and not necessarily mechanically. The term proximate, as used herein, is intended to mean close, near adjacent and/or coincident; and includes spatial situations where specified functions and/or results (if any) can be carried out and/or achieved. The term deploying is intended to mean designing, building, shipping, installing and/or operating.
The terms first or one, and the phrases at least a first or at least one, are intended to mean the singular or the plural unless it is clear from the intrinsic text of this document that it is meant otherwise. The terms second or another, and the phrases at least a second or at least another, are intended to mean the singular or the plural unless it is clear from the intrinsic text of this document that it is meant otherwise. Unless expressly stated to the contrary in the intrinsic text of this document, the term or is intended to mean an inclusive or and not an exclusive or. Specifically, a condition A or B is satisfied by any one of the following: A is true (or present) and B is false (or not present), A is false (or not present) and B is true (or present), and both A and B are true (or present). The terms a or an are employed for grammatical style and merely for convenience.
The term plurality is intended to mean two or more than two. The term any is intended to mean all applicable members of a set or at least a subset of all applicable members of the set. The phrase any integer derivable therein is intended to mean an integer between the corresponding numbers recited in the specification. The phrase any range derivable therein is intended to mean any range within such corresponding numbers. The term means, when followed by the term “for” is intended to mean hardware, firmware and/or software for achieving a result. The term step, when followed by the term “for” is intended to mean a (sub)method, (sub)process and/or (sub)routine for achieving the recited result.
The terms “comprises,” “comprising,” “includes,” “including,” “has,” “having” or any other variation thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion. For example, a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements is not necessarily limited to only those elements but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus. The terms “consisting” (consists, consisted) and/or “composing” (composes, composed) are intended to mean closed language that does not leave the recited method, apparatus or composition to the inclusion of procedures, structure(s) and/or ingredient(s) other than those recited except for ancillaries, adjuncts and/or impurities ordinarily associated therewith. The recital of the term “essentially” along with the term “consisting” (consists, consisted) and/or “composing” (composes, composed), is intended to mean modified close language that leaves the recited method, apparatus and/or composition open only for the inclusion of unspecified procedure(s), structure(s) and/or ingredient(s) which do not materially affect the basic novel characteristics of the recited method, apparatus and/or composition.
Unless otherwise defined, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. In case of conflict, the present specification, including definitions, will control.
The invention has the potential to become a useful extension to GPS-only navigation to improve radiolocation performance and reliability in adverse RF environments where GPS reception is impaired or unavailable. The use of programmable SDR-based designs permits the rapid, adaptable re-tuning of hardware to a wide range of operational frequencies to accommodate operational needs. Although the basic ground-based form of TPS provides only 2-D location information, the system can be deployed with elevated transmitters to obtain a vertical position as well. Further, a 3-D form of TPS also utilizes ionospheric reflections (up through HF) to assist in driving an additional vertical fix. The integration of modern GPS, TPS, and cost-effective INS modules, coupled with a new paradigm in low-power, high-stability timebase technology (EQUATE) can provide to U.S. military, emergency, and law-enforcement personnel a new level of dynamic locating-system accuracy, reliability, and availability, especially in adverse reception environments.
The described embodiments and examples are illustrative only and not intended to be limiting. Although embodiments of the invention can be implemented separately, embodiments of the invention may be integrated into the system(s) with which they are associated. All the embodiments of the invention disclosed herein can be made and used without undue experimentation in light of the disclosure. Although the best mode of the invention contemplated by the inventor(s) is disclosed, embodiments of the invention are not limited thereto. Embodiments of the invention are not limited by theoretical statements (if any) recited herein. The individual steps of embodiments of the invention need not be performed in the disclosed manner, or combined in the disclosed sequences, but may be performed in any and all manner and/or combined in any and all sequences. The individual components of embodiments of the invention need not be formed in the disclosed shapes, or combined in the disclosed configurations, but could be provided in any and all shapes, and/or combined in any and all configurations. The individual components need not be fabricated from the disclosed materials, but could be fabricated from any and all suitable materials. Homologous replacements may be substituted for the substances described herein. Agents which are both chemically and physiologically related may be substituted for the agents described herein where the same or similar results would be achieved.
It can be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art to which embodiments of the invention pertain that various substitutions, modifications, additions and/or rearrangements of the features of embodiments of the invention may be made without deviating from the spirit and/or scope of the underlying inventive concept. All the disclosed elements and features of each disclosed embodiment can be combined with, or substituted for, the disclosed elements and features of every other disclosed embodiment except where such elements or features are mutually exclusive. The spirit and/or scope of the underlying inventive concept as defined by the appended claims and their equivalents cover all such substitutions, modifications, additions and/or rearrangements.
The appended claims are not to be interpreted as including means-plus-function limitations, unless such a limitation is explicitly recited in a given claim using the phrase(s) “means for” and/or “step for.” Subgeneric embodiments of the invention are delineated by the appended independent claims and their equivalents. Specific embodiments of the invention are differentiated by the appended dependent claims and their equivalents.
This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/583,374, filed Oct. 17, 2006 now U.S. Pat. No. 7,626,544, which is incorporated by reference.
This invention was made with United States Government support under prime contract No. DE-AC05-00OR22725 to UT-Battelle, L.L.C. awarded by the Department of Energy. The Government has certain rights in this invention.
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