SBIR-STTR Award

This Phase I effort will develop a design solution that adds a GPS receiver to an IMU for the GBI EKV. This new Integrated Inertial Navigation Unit must put gyros, accelerometers, electronics, EKV interfaces, processing, GPS and GPS antennae interfaces in the volume and footprint currently occupied by the first four items alone. The GH Systems team, with Honeywell as our subcontractor, will evaluate multiple design alternatives and refine a unique design solution for implementation in Phase II. The GH Systems team will leverage its knowledge of the EKV system and its history of designing and delivering inertial systems for missile defense interceptors to design a solution that meets or exceeds the stated GBI EKV requirements

The IMU/GPS Accuracy Enhancements for Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) Phase II effort will take the results and implementation approach from the Phase I effort and will develop a prototype/engineering unit, verify functional performance, and validate key performance requirements. This prototype/engineering unit will be used with a GPS simulator to demonstrate the refinement in the sensor outputs from the proposed GPS/IMU integration scheme. Packaging concepts will be evaluated to meet the Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle (EKV) Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) weight and volume. Hardware and software development will include the capability to comply with the current EKV IMU interface and a design path to the Common IMU Standard Interface will be selected with a goal to also incorporate it into the prototype/engineering unit. An option to select between the current EKV interface and the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) Common IMU Standard Interface will be included in the design concept. The production cost associated with a fully developed Inertial Navigation System (INS) will be estimated.

Keywords:
Missile Defense Agency, Mda, Inertial Measurement Unit, Imu, Global Positioning System, Gps, Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle, Ekv