GPS World

Tag: Stryker

  • Collins Aerospace wins contract to improve anti-jamming for warfighters

    Collins Aerospace wins contract to improve anti-jamming for warfighters

    The United States Army has awarded Collins Aerospace a Phase III contract to build the second generation of its Mounted Assured Position Navigation and Timing System (MAPS).

    The MAPS program adds anti-jamming capability for soldiers in GPS-contested environments. In 2019, MAPS Gen I units were installed on Stryker vehicles of the 2nd Cavalry Regiment in Germany.

    Phase 3 of the MAPS Gen II program “begins combat platform integration in preparation for low-rate initial production,” according to an Oct. 7 Army press release.

    MAPS Gen II includes M-code GPS receivers, provided by BAE Systems, along with anti-jamming antennas, sensor fusion and inertial measurement units to deliver assured PNT to soldiers.

    MAPS Gen II is part of the Army’s goal to accelerate the development and fielding of modernized soldier capabilities.

    “Less than a year after we equipped the first generation of MAPS in Europe we’re already pushing forward with the development of Gen II,” said Willie Nelson, director of the the Assured Positioning, Navigation and Timing (APNT) Cross-Functional Team (CFT). “This award comes less than a month after our Mounted APNT requirement was approved. The timing could not be better.”

    MAPS Gen I includes A and B kits, consisting of cable and mounts to use on a vehicle and a military GPS paired with non-radio frequency technologies.

    The Phase III Other Transaction Authority contract covers product maturation and begins combat platform integration, clearing the path to low rate initial production.

    Army Stryker ground combat vehicle. (Photo: Karolis Kavolelis / Shutterstock.com)
    Army Stryker ground combat vehicle.
    (Photo: Karolis Kavolelis / Shutterstock.com)

    The MAPS GEN II is comprised of the NavHub-100 PNT Distribution Device, the Multi-Sensor Antenna System (MSAS-100) and an optional speed sensor. The NavHub-100 works in concert with the MSAS-100 to produce a trusted A-PNT solution that can be distributed through serial interface, Victory Ethernet and RF distribution to multiple client systems. 

    MAPS GEN II supports the U.S. Army PNT Reference Architecture by leveraging modular technologies from across Collins’ A-PNT portfolio and industry. This scalable architecture builds upon the modular open system architecture (MOSA) standards and includes the All Source Positioning and Navigation (ASPN) generic message definition to support plug-and-play sensor integration and the Future Airborne Capability Environment (FACE) to host portable software capabilities.

    The MAPS GEN II system not only supports direct replacement of the Defense Advanced GPS Receiver (DAGR) on military platforms, it also provides exceptional A-PNT performance in GPS-contested and GPS-denied environments.

  • Army fields anti-jam GPS, plans for thousands more by 2028

    Army fields anti-jam GPS, plans for thousands more by 2028

    By Thomas Brading, Army News Service

    Sixty-two of the first iteration of mounted anti-jam GPS devices were equipped into light armored vehicles in Germany over the past month, with thousands more scheduled to be installed into U.S. European Command vehicles by 2028, said Army leaders in charge of location data on future battlefields.

    The Mounted Assured Precision Navigation & Timing System — known as MAPS — was developed to provide trusted positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) to a platform, such as Stryker vehicles, by pairing a GPS receiver with an anti-jam antenna, said Col. Nickolas Kioutas, PNT project manager.

    Read more about MAPS, along with other anti-jam systems, here. Also look for our anti-jam feature coming in the December issue of GPS World magazine.

    The electronic technology comes amid the Army’s vision for 2028, to best prepare soldiers for possible warfare with near-peer competitors, who have used electronic warfare to disrupt communications vital to Western forces in recent years.

    This year, more than 300 Stryker vehicles, all from the 2nd Cavalry Regiment, are expected to be fielded with MAPS technology, said Willie Nelson, the director of the Army’s Assured PNT Cross-Functional Team.

    Upgraded first-generation and second-generation technology is also expected to be unveiled in the future.

    The Army also plans to equip armored brigades with the technology, and put MAPS in vehicles such as the Bradley Fighting Vehicle, M1 Abrams tank, and the M109 Paladin self-propelled howitzer. After those “priority vehicles,” the Army will evaluate the mounted device in second-tier priority vehicles, Nelson said.

    Soldiers from 2-2 Stryker Brigade Combat Team move out in their Stryker during their training rotation at the National Training Center on Fort Irwin, Calif., Sept. 2, 2019. (Photo: Sgt. Ryan Barwick/U.S. Army)
    Soldiers from 2-2 Stryker Brigade Combat Team move out in their Stryker during their training rotation at the National Training Center on Fort Irwin, Calif., Sept. 2, 2019. (Photo: Sgt. Ryan Barwick/U.S. Army)

    In the past, armored vehicles have used multiple Defense Advanced GPS receivers, known as DAGR devices.

    MAPS replaces multiple DAGR devices with one “really good system,” said Kioutas. The new system uses a chip-scale atomic clock for timing, Selective Availability and Anti-Spoof Module, or SAASM, for GPS, and anti-jamming antenna to distribute PNT information.

    In addition, future iterations of MAPS will include non-GPS sensors by fusing GPS with alternate navigation and timing technologies to ensure accurate PNT that soldiers can trust while operating in various threat or denied environments, according to a statement.

    A single-point GPS also creates multiple practical benefits for soldiers, such as less maintenance and system key-failing, Kioutas said, adding many of his team’s decisions are based on Soldier feedback, because listening to them today helps prepare them for tomorrow.

    Simply put, “MAPS continues to work whenever a GPS signal is weakened or compromised,” he said.

    “This is the first technology equipping for the Assured Positioning, Navigation and Timing Cross-Functional Team, and one of the first for Army Futures Command,” Kioutas said.

    Nelson noted that they’re “working in parallel with both mounted vehicles and dismounted soldier’s PNT gear.”

    A soldier checks part of a Mounted Assured Precision Navigation & Timing System -- known as MAPS. Sixty-two of the first iteration of mounted anti-jam GPS devices were equipped into light armored vehicles in Germany over the past month, with thousands more scheduled to be installed into U.S. European Command vehicles by 2028. (Photo: John Higgins)
    A soldier checks part of a Mounted Assured Precision Navigation & Timing System — known as MAPS. Sixty-two of the first iteration of mounted anti-jam GPS devices were equipped into light armored vehicles in Germany over the past month, with thousands more scheduled to be installed into U.S. European Command vehicles by 2028. (Photo: John Higgins)

    Earlier this year, a requirements document for the dismounted soldier’s PNT was signed. Now, currently in the prototyping phase, the latest iteration of a dismounted GPS receiver can send secure PNT data wired or wirelessly, Kioutas said.

    “A lot is happening here, a lot of good success,” Nelson said, adding, the most important thing for his team is to get the best equipment to “warfighters on the front lines and getting their feedback rolled back into the next generation.”

    Nelson will host a Warrior’s Corner presentation Oct. 15 focusing on the PNT CFT’s Tactical Space Line of Effort, at the Walter E. Washington Convention center in Washington, D.C.