SCIENTIFIC SYSTEMS CO INC — Department of Defense SBIR Phase II: N11A-T012

Description

A critical operational problem facing warfighters today is the easy availability to enemies of jamming transmitters that disrupt GPS and radio communications. This is especially important in typical Squad engagements where the enemy has local knowledge that we lack, causing reliance on GPS to have disproportionate impact on operations. Locating and targeting these transmitters is challenging because of complex signal environments, including the possibility of multiple simultaneous emitters, and the likelihood of communications and GNSS jamming, which will render existing emitter-finding systems ineffective. Phase I demonstrated new geolocation algorithms which are robust to complex environments and confusion from multiple emitters. In Phase II SSCI has executed simulations and flight tests to confirm algorithm performance. In this program SSCI will integrate closed-loop sensing for data collection guidance, as well as GPS-denied navigation technology, and demonstrate an airborne emitter-finding system with improved timeliness and accuracy, continued ability to perform in multiple-emitter scenarios, as well as zero vulnerability to hostile GPS or communications jamming. In addition to these added capabilities, SSCI will reduce the size-weight-power footprint of the system prototype, showing a route to implementation on Group 3 UAS, and perform flight demonstrations against GPS jammers.