SBIR-STTR Award

The development of a subminiature instrumentation package utilizing state-of-the-art global position system (GPS) and inertial navigation system (INS) technologies to obtain Time Space Position Information (TSPI) is proposed. The package measuring 50mmX50mmX25mm consists of three modules. It has a inertial module with a flat chip inertial measurement device, a GPS module with a processor and an interface module with power management. The package has a connector for an antenna, a subminiature 25-pin connector for configuration management, testing and power input, and a high-speed serial I/O port. The Phase I effort includes a feasibility analysis, trade-off analyses of component modules, breadboard fabrication and testing of GPS and IMU modules, true scale fabrication of the package enclosure. The effort will yield a recommended design of the instrument package to be developed in Phase II. In addition to be employed in the conventional TSPI applications, the SGI will find applications in commercial navigation in aircraft, boats, and other vehicles. Further reductions in cost and size will lead to applications in sports, medicine, automobile, oil industry, optics stabilization, toys, etc.

The objective of the program is to develop a subminiature instrumentation package utilizing state-of-the-art global position system (GPS) and inertial navigation system (INS) technologies to obtain Time Space Position Information (TSPI). has begun under this effort. In Phase I of the program, a conceptual design of the hardware was developed. After evaluating commercial of-the-shelf (COTS) hardware for microprocessors and GPS receivers, the TQM850 single board computer (SBC) and the RF8000 GPS receivers respectively were selected for TSPIGII packaging. A new flat pack IMU was conceived to be included with the SBC and the GPS modules. With these modules, a TSPIGII package was developed that measures (56mmX49mmX25mm). Analysis of the board layouts and inter-module interfaces shows the feasibility of the conceived TSPIGII package. The first iteration of the flat chip inertial devices was completed and devices are being tested in a servo electronics development bread board. A small footprint embedded Linux was assembled and loaded into TQM850 flash. The Ethernet interface was tested under embedded Linux. In Phase II, the TSPIGII prototype will be built to size using commercial hardware and Waddan?s inertial module. The baseline effort planned for this phase includes integration of COTS, development of TSPIGII specific system software, development of the flat pack inertial module, Kalman filter design for the tightly coupled GPS/INS and its related software, Bench mark testing, cost modeling etc. As an optional effort, a flash data storage capability could be added to TSPIGII. Upon completing the development, a TSPIGII prototype unit will be built, tested, and delivered to Edwards AFB for flight testing.

Keywords:
Gps, Ins, Mems, Tspi, Gyro, Accelerometer