SBIR-STTR Award

This proposal presents an approach for assessing the feasibility of measuring aircraft and/or ship user vehicle heading and attitude and determining whether +/- 1 accuracy can be obtained using the global positioning system (GPS). The technical approach proposed will examine the navigation signals and the methods of processing the information and will propose methods for extracting heading and attitude data from the GPS. Additional radio and data processing techniques such as interferometry and more accurate phase measurements may be needed to meet the accuracy. The variation in accuracy as a function of implementation is an output of the study. Vehicle dynamics and satellite constellation geometry are independent variables in the process of determining heading and attitude. Additional processing and different receiver configurations that currently envisioned may be required. The GPS user equipment does not provide heading and attitude in its current implementation so that attitude and heading determination may require additional receiver processing.