GPS World

Tag: JPADS

  • PNT Roundup: Inertial market outlook, 3D grows lidar, RoboParachute drops

    Intertial

    Inertial effort underway for MGUE

    The U.S. Air Force’s Joint Service Systems Management Office (JSSMO) has awarded Northrop Grumman Corporation an order to support embedded GPS/inertial navigation system (INS) pre-Phase 1 modernization efforts.

    Integration of inertial technology with GPS systems across all military platforms — some, such as munitions, are already so equipped — could have far-reaching effects. The move reflects the military’s concern over GPS vulnerabilities in challenged environments.

    The Military GPS User Equipment (MGUE) program is developing M-code-capable GPS receivers, which are mandated by Congress after fiscal year 2017 and will help to ensure the secure transmission of accurate military signals.

    Under the $4.8 million order, Northrop Grumman will perform trade studies, assess the state of development of MGUE for upcoming applications, and contribute to architecture development for next-generation GPS/inertial navigation systems.

    The JSSMO is responsible, among other things, for a GPS lab in the Department of Defense that helps develop and test software for GPS systems used throughout the military.

    One of the systems it maintains is the Blue Force Tracker (BFT), which is used by all military branches and can track friendly units regardless of their location. Not only can the system see where the unit is located, it can also determine whether or not a unit is moving and what form of transportation it is using.

    Aviation Use. The updated GPS/inertial navigation system will also comply with the Federal Aviation Administration’s NextGen air traffic control requirements that aircraft flying at higher altitudes be equipped with Automatic Dependence Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) Out by January 2020. ADS-B Out transmits information about an aircraft’s altitude, speed and location to ground stations and to other equipped aircraft in the vicinity. The modernized system is expected to be available for platform integration starting in 2018.

    Inertial market to top $8.9 billion by 2020

    The inertial navigation system (INS) market is projected to grow from $4.64 billion in 2015 to $8.87 billion by 2020, according to a January 2016 reported from research firm ReportLinker. Factors driving the global INS market include the increasing number of aircraft, technological advancements in navigation systems, increasing demand for accuracy in navigation, and availability of smaller components at lower cost.

    “Commercial platform application segment to witness the highest growth during the forecast period,” says the report.

    Key applications considered in the market study are naval, airborne, land and commercial platforms. The overall INS market is dominated by the naval platform segment. However, the commercial platform segment is projected to grow at a comparatively higher CAGR during the forecast period of 2015 to 2020, primarily driven by the demand for new aircraft in response to the burgeoning rise in air travel and congestion of airspace.

    Recent advances in inertial technology have replaced the mechanical components with electronic ones, particularly micro-electro-mechanical sensors (MEMS). Overall focus has remained on increasing the accuracy and reducing weight of the INS.

    The major companies profiled in the report include Northrop Grumman Corporation (U.S.), Honeywell International Inc. (U.S.), Sagem (France), Rockwell Collins (U.S.) and Thales SA (France), among others.

    Lidar

    Lidar market grows with 3D

    Anew market report on light detection and ranging (lidar) technology says that the demand for lidar is increasing in line with an increase in the demand for 3D scanning and 3D imagery.

    According to the report, the global lidar market is anticipated to expand at 15 percent annually from 2014 to 2020, growing from a value of $225 million in 2013 to $605 million in 2020.

    Lidar enables direct measurement of 3D structures and underlying terrain with high resolution and high data accuracy. The adoption of lidar technology is slowly penetrating in various government sectors such as roadways, railways and forestry management, among others.

    However, the lidar market faces challenge related to the complexity in interpreting the output data, because of the lack of data-set standardization.

    The 80-page research study is titled LiDAR Market: Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2014–2020, available for sale from Transparency Market Research.

    The lidar market can be segmented based on types into airborne and terrestrial lidar and based on applications into coastal, forestry, transportation, infrastructure, defense and aerospace, transmission lines and flood mapping, among others.

    Geographically, the lidar market is dominated by North America owing to high adoption of advanced 3D imagery technologies by the U.S. government. Europe follows with a minimal difference in the market share. A large number of key players are based in Europe and are involved in making innovations to meet the requirements of consumers in different applications.

    The report has been segmented by type, application and geography. It also includes the drivers, restraints, opportunities and value chain of the global lidar market.

    Imagery

    RoboParachute drops

    The U.S. Army’s Joint Precision Airdrop System (JPADS) has developed a new capability exploiting a navigation alternative to GPS. In recent tests, JPADS were dropped from planes, and immediately determined their location using optical sensors to compare local terrain with commercial satellite imagery. The new system demonstrated navigation to its intended point, using nothing but imagery to guide it. The new JPADS also works with little knowledge of the aircraft’s location at the drop point.

    JPADS, largely guided by GPS, has already proven its importance in supplying troops with necessary materials and equipment, relying less on vulnerable convoys.

    Contractor Draper will continue developing the system to eliminate current obstacles, such as cloud cover that degrades the vision-aided navigation system’s ability to compare vision sensor inputs with satellite imagery. These imagery-data analysis technologies could be used to help guide military freefall paratroopers and autonomous aerial vehicles.

  • Aerial delivery without GPS can aid troops, relief operations

    The U.S. Army’s Joint Precision Airdrop System (JPADS) has developed a new capability with a navigation alternative to GPS.

    In recent tests, JPADS were dropped from planes, and immediately determined their location using optical sensors to compare local terrain with commercial satellite imagery. The new system demonstrated navigation to its intended point, using nothing but imagery to guide it.

    The new JPADS also works with little knowledge of the aircraft’s location at the drop point.

    JPADS, largely guided by GPS, has already proven its importance in supplying troops with necessary materials and equipment, relying less on vulnerable convoys.

    Dropping critical supplies from the air has allowed the U.S. military to rely less on easily-ambushed truck convoys and helicopter resupply. Exposure to improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and ambushed convoys resulted in more than 3,000 causalities in Afghanistan and Iraq through 2007.

    JPADS has proven to be an important tool in the Army’s logistics chain in many scenarios to supply troops with material and equipment in adverse terrain and remote locations when ground lines of communication are not possible or deemed too high a risk.

    A JPADs pallet lands on target, followed by several others still in the air, during recent testing. (Photo: US Army)
    A JPADs pallet lands on target, followed by several others still in the air, during recent testing. (Photo: US Army)

    The Army life cycle manager, Product Manager Force Sustainment Systems (PM-FSS), continues to improve the JPADS capability with technology enhancements being led by the Army’s Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center (NSRDEC), including making JPADS more robust and versatile to environment, terrain and other factors. Investments are focused on significant increased accuracy, lower cost and lower retrograde weight/volume of the reusable JPADS at all weight classes.

    The U.S. Army NSRDEC, with Draper and numerous other partners, recently began testing a new version of the JPADS guidance system that takes advantage of Draper’s technology to navigate precisely to its intended ground impact point using imagery alone, and having minimal knowledge about the aircraft’s location when the package is dropped. The accuracy is critical, as payloads that stray even slightly off course can force troops to expose themselves to enemy fire, or can tumble down mountainsides in rugged terrain, explained Chris Bessette, Draper’s JPADS program manager.

    “This is a huge step forward for aerial resupply,” Bessette said. “The guided airdrop system is keeping U.S. forces from the danger that has killed thousands of their fellow troops. By enabling the system to operate using imagery alone when dropped as high as 25,000 feet above Mean Sea Level and upwards of 20 miles away from the target depending on winds, we can ensure that JPADS is even more versatile so troops receive supplies like fuel, ammunition, food, and water in the safest manner possible.”

    Draper’s JPADS software autonomously flies the cargo-carrying parafoil to land at a user defined location, adapting in real-time to local environmental conditions, such as varying wind. The company’s work on JPADS takes advantage of its expertise in applying position, navigation, and timing algorithms to combine the outputs of precision instruments to enable highly accurate, long-duration navigation solutions.

    The recent testing demonstrated the ability to accurately navigate JPADS to a pre-selected user position, using imagery alone, with almost no information about where the package was released from the plane. During testing in Arizona, the payloads were dropped from planes, and then JPADS immediately determined their own location by comparing terrain features spotted using optical sensors with commercial satellite imagery of the area.

    The Army is also supporting Draper in developing upgrades to the vision-aided navigation system to address current limitations, including cloud cover, which degrades the system’s ability to correlate vision sensor inputs with satellite imagery.

    The military can leverage the same technology to help guide military free fall paratroopers and unmanned aerial vehicles utilizing imagery data alone, Bessette said.