Countering GPS Jamming and EW Threat

摘要

Efforts at the U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Center (ARDEC) at Picatinny, New Jersey are focused on developing methods to counter GPS jamming and electronic warfare (EW) threat by eliminating GPS dependency entirely. In addition, the need for munitions cost reduction requires alternatives to expensive high-grade inertia components. Efforts at ARDEC include investigations of novel methods for onboard measurement of munitions full position and angular orientation independent of GPS signals or high-grade inertia components. Currently, two types of direct angular measurement sensors are being investigated. A first sensor, Radio Frequency Polarized Sensor (RFPS), uses an electromagnetic field as a reference. A second sensor is based on magnetometers, using the Earth magnetic field for orientation measurement. Magnetometers, however, can only provide two independent orientation measurements. The RFPS may also be used to make full object position and angular orientation measurement relative to a reference coordinate system, which may be moving or stationary. The potential applications of novel RFPS sensors is in providing highly effective inexpensive replacement for GPS, which could be used in a "Layered Navigation" scheme employing alternate referencing methods and reduce the current dependency on GPS as a primary reference for guided gun-fired munitions. Other potential applications of RFPSs is in UAVs, UGVs, and robotic platforms.