Sonobuoy Swarm Target Tracking for Jammed GPS
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Solution Overview
Problem
Aerial assets, such as missiles and UAVs, face challenges in determining the location of targets accurately without relying on offboard communication systems, which can be jammed, and inertial navigation systems suffer from drift over time, leading to inaccurate target location and tracking.
Innovation Solution
The method involves using a swarm of sonobuoys to detect the target and determine its relative position with respect to a navigation control vehicle, which then provides this information to aerial assets without revealing the absolute position, allowing for accurate target location and tracking even when offboard communication is jammed or unreliable.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If GPS or other positioning systems are used to determine the current location of the aerial asset, then the location can be determined accurately, but the system becomes susceptible to being jammed by offboard communication interference
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces sonobuoys as intermediary objects that act as mediators between the aerial asset and the target. The sonobuoys detect the target and provide relative position information to the aerial asset, enabling location determination without direct line-of-sight communication or reliance on vulnerable GPS systems. This intermediary approach allows the aerial asset to acquire target location information through the sonobuoys rather than through jammed communication channels.
2Reliability
If inertial navigation systems are used to determine the current location of the aerial asset without offboard communication, then the system is not susceptible to jamming, but the location accuracy drifts over time
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a feedback mechanism where sonobuoys continuously detect the target's position and provide relative position information back to the aerial asset. This feedback loop allows the aerial asset to continuously update its understanding of the target's location relative to itself, compensating for any drift that may occur in the inertial navigation system over time. The sonobuoys act as external reference points that reset the navigation drift.
3Measurement precision
If the aerial asset determines its current location to locate the target, then the target location can be determined, but the system requires offboard communication which can be jammed
Solution Approach 1:
The sonobuoys serve as intermediaries that carry target detection information to the aerial asset without requiring direct communication between the aerial asset and external positioning systems. The sonobuoys detect the target and transmit relative position information to the aerial asset, enabling target location determination through an indirect communication path that is less susceptible to jamming.
Data Source
AI summary
A method, apparatus and system are provided to permit an aerial asset to determine its current location and to, in turn, locate and track a target even as efforts are made by others to jam or otherwise hinder offboard communications that may prevent reliance upon GPS or other positioning systems. A method includes receiving, at a navigation control vehicle, information regarding the relative position of a target with respect to each of the at least two sonobuoys. The method also determines a relative position of the target with respect to the navigation control vehicle at least partially based on the information regarding the relative position of the target with respect to each of the at least two sonobuoys. The method provides information regarding the relative position of the target to an aerial asset to facilitate location of the target by the aerial asset.