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GPS-BASED AUTONOMOUS SPACE NAVIGATION

Award Information
Agency: Department of Transportation
Branch: N/A
Contract: N/A
Agency Tracking Number: 18792
Amount: $49,844.00
Phase: Phase I
Program: SBIR
Solicitation Topic Code: N/A
Solicitation Number: N/A
Timeline
Solicitation Year: N/A
Award Year: 1992
Award Start Date (Proposal Award Date): N/A
Award End Date (Contract End Date): N/A
Small Business Information
1301 West 25th Street Suite 300
Austin, TX 78705
United States
DUNS: N/A
HUBZone Owned: No
Woman Owned: No
Socially and Economically Disadvantaged: No
Principal Investigator
 James W Chaffee
 Director R & D
 () -
Business Contact
Phone: () -
Research Institution
N/A
Abstract

COMMERCIAL AND GOVERNMENT SPACE TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS DEPEND ON GROUND SUPPORT FOR NAVIGATION. THE GROUND SOLUTION CAN BE COSTLY AND MAY PROVIDE LESS ACCURACY THAN NEEDED. A GPS-BASED REAL-TIME AUTONOMOUS SPACECRAFT NAVIGATION SYSTEM IS PROPOSED. AN ALGORITHM WILL BE DEVELOPED WHICH COMBINES GPS-DERIVED POINT POSITION ESTIMATES WITH A PROPAGATED A PRIORI POSITION ESTIMATE. THE POINT POSITIONS ARE COMPUTED BY DIRECT ALGEBRAIC SOLUTION OF THE PSEUDORANGE EQUATIONS WITHOUT RESORTING TO LINEARIZATION. THE MOST APPROPRIATE METHOD FOR PROPAGATION OF THE A PRIORI ESTIMATE WILL BE DETERMINED FROM METHODS SUCH AS MONTE CARLO ANALYSIS, INTEGRATION OF PARTIAL DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS, AND STATE TRANSITION EQUATIONS DERIVED FROM THE ORBITAL EQUATION OF MOTION. A BAYESIAN UPDATE WILL BE USED TO COMBINE THE GPS POINT ESTIMATE WITH THE A PRIORI ESTIMATE. THE MAXIMUM A POSTERIORI VALUE OF THE POSITION DENSITY FUNCTION WILL DEFINE THE BEST VEHICLE POSITION ESTIMATE. THE ALGORITHM WILL BE IMPLEMENTED ON A DESK TOP COMPUTER AND TESTED FOR ACCURACY, EASE OF IMPLEMENTATION, AND COMPUTATIONAL BURDEN. THE DELIVERABLES WILL INCLUDE THE COMPUTATIONAL ALGORITHM, THE COMPUTER CODE, THE TEST RESULTS, AND A PLAN FOR PHASE II IMPLEMENTATION OF THE ALGORITHM ON PROTOTYPE HARDWARE.

* Information listed above is at the time of submission. *

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