The goal of this project is to develop an integrated differential global positioning system combined with a compensated inertial navigation system (GPS-INS) for mapping applications. It will be low-cost, lightweight, compact, and accurate even when reception by the GPS receiver is blocked. The differential GPS receiver, the XR4-G of Navstar Electronics, Inc., costs about $3,000. The navigational gyroscopes, the Gyroengines of Gyration, Inc., are made of plastic, are tiny, and will, when in production, cost only several hundred dollars. To increase the accuracy of the Gyroengines for the mapping application, compensation, i.e., incremental corrections, will be applied to their raw observations. These incremental corrections will be calculated in real time by an attached notebook computer using the system error model derived in Phase I and implemented in Phase II. For NASA, the integrated GPS-INS will provide accurate, low-cost, ground-truth mapping for satellite imagery of the earth's surface.
Potential Commercial Applications:Commercial application would be in accurate, low-cost navigation, tracking, and mapping by ground-vehicles and helicopters.
