Methods and systems of relative navigation for shipboard landings

• US 20070016371A1
• Filed: 07/13/2005
• Published: 01/18/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 07/13/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Original Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Inventors: Boseley, Adam, Hess, Phil, Vaujin, Michael, Waid, James, Dutton, Kevin, Morgan, Kenneth
• Granted Patent: US 7,474,962 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/213
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/06 involving measuring of drift angle; involving correction for drift
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/49 whereby the further system is an inertial position system, e.g. loosely-coupled
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/51 Relative positioning

Abstract

A method for guiding the approach and landing of an aircraft is provided. The method involves receiving navigation information from the aircraft, receiving navigation information from an aircraft carrier, integrating the navigation information from the aircraft with the navigation information from the aircraft carrier to determine a relative velocity and a relative position between the aircraft and the aircraft carrier, and propagating the relative velocity and the relative position forward in time for navigation purposes.

Claims

1. A method for providing relative navigation between two objects, the method comprising:

receiving navigation information from the first object;

receiving navigation information from the second object;

integrating the navigation information from the first object with the navigation information from the second object to determine a relative velocity and a relative position between the first and second objects; and

propagating the relative velocity and the relative position forward in time for navigation purposes.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving navigation information from the first object comprises receiving GPS/INS measurement data from an on-board navigation system.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving navigation information from the second vehicle comprises receiving a broadcast of GPS/INS measurement data from the second object.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein integrating the navigation information from the first object with the navigation information from the second object to determine a relative velocity and a relative position between the two vehicles comprises:

constructing velocity and position vectors of the first object;

constructing velocity and position vectors of the second object;

differencing the velocity vector of the first object with the velocity vector of the second object; and

differencing the position vector of the first object with the position vector of the second object.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein propagating the relative velocity and the relative position forward in time further comprises:

propagating relative velocity and relative position vectors forward in time at the same rate as signals are received from the second object; and

aiding relative velocity and relative position vectors forward in time at the same rate as GPS signals are recorded by the first and second objects.

6. A method for guiding the approach and landing of an aircraft, the method comprising:

receiving navigation information from the aircraft;

receiving navigation information from an aircraft carrier;

integrating the navigation information from the aircraft with the navigation information from the aircraft carrier to determine a relative velocity and a relative position between the aircraft and the aircraft carrier; and

propagating the relative velocity and the relative position forward in time for navigation purposes.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein receiving navigation information from the aircraft comprises receiving GPS/INS measurement data from an on-board navigation system.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein receiving navigation information from an aircraft carrier comprises receiving a broadcast of GPS/INS measurement data from the aircraft carrier.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein integrating the navigation information from the aircraft with the navigation information from the aircraft carrier to determine a relative velocity and a relative position between the aircraft and the aircraft carrier comprises:

constructing velocity and position vectors of the aircraft;

constructing velocity and position vectors of the aircraft carrier;

differencing the velocity vector of the aircraft with the velocity vector of the aircraft carrier; and

differencing the position vector of the aircraft with the position vector of the aircraft carrier.

10. The method of claim 6, wherein propagating the relative velocity and the relative position forward in time further comprises:

propagating relative velocity and relative position vectors forward in time at the same rate as signals are received from the aircraft carrier; and

aiding relative velocity and relative position vectors forward in time at the same rate as GPS signals are recorded by the aircraft and the aircraft carrier.

11. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable program instructions for a method for determining relative position and relative velocity between an aircraft and a seaborne aircraft carrier as the aircraft approaches the aircraft carrier, the method comprising:

integrating the attitude and position of the aircraft carrier with the attitude and position of the aircraft;

integrating the velocity of the aircraft carrier with the velocity of the aircraft; and

constructing the reference trajectories for relative position and velocity.

12. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein integrating the attitude and position of the aircraft carrier with the attitude and position of the aircraft comprises using a trapezoidal integration scheme.

13. The computer-readable medium of claim 12, further comprising:

providing corrected input values for sensor measurement errors using a filtering mechanism; and

providing corrected input values for dynamic state errors of attitude and position using a filtering mechanism.

14. The computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein the filtering mechanism further comprises at least one mode of operation depending on the condition of the data link received from the aircraft carrier.

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the at least one mode of operation includes at least one of absolute difference, code differential, float, or fixed.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein integrating the velocity of the aircraft carrier with the velocity of the aircraft comprises integrating the velocity in the earth centered, earth fixed frame.

17. The computer-readable medium of claim 16, further comprising:

providing corrected input values for sensor measurement errors using a filtering mechanism; and

providing corrected input values for dynamic velocity state errors using a filtering mechanism.

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the filtering mechanism further comprises at least one mode of operation depending on the condition of the data link received from the aircraft carrier.

19. The computer-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the at least one mode of operation includes at least one of absolute difference, code differential, float, or fixed.

20. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein constructing the reference trajectories for relative position and velocity further comprises interpolating the aircraft position and velocity to the nearest appropriate aircraft carrier measurement recording time.

21. The computer-readable medium of claim 20, further comprising differencing the aircraft position and velocity with the aircraft carrier position and velocity.

22. An on-board navigational system for an aircraft, the system comprising:

a first processor adapted to perform real-time computations necessary for recording absolute measurements of the aircraft'"'"'s position and velocity, wherein the processor is further adapted to integrate position and velocity measurements with respect to the aircraft;

a second processor adapted to perform real-time computations necessary for receiving position and velocity measurements from an aircraft carrier, wherein the processor is further adapted to estimate position and velocity errors with respect to the aircraft, estimate position and velocity errors with respect to the aircraft carrier, and estimate the relative position and velocity between the aircraft carrier and the aircraft;

one or more position sensors coupled to the first processor, the sensors adapted to detect the position of the aircraft;

one or more inertial sensors coupled to the first processor;

the sensors adapted to detect the inertial movements of the aircraft; and

a navigation avionics platform, coupled to both the first and second processors, wherein the platform is further adapted to provide ship state and GPS measurement data from the aircraft carrier to the second processor, and to receive relative navigation data from the second processor.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein the position and velocity errors with respect to the aircraft carrier includes acceleration errors.

24. The system of claim 22, wherein the position and velocity errors with respect to the aircraft carrier includes dual frequency integer ambiguities.

25. The system of claim 22, wherein the position and velocity errors with respect to the aircraft includes attitude errors.

26. The system of claim 22, wherein the position and velocity errors with respect to the aircraft includes dual frequency integer ambiguities.

27. The system of claim 22, wherein the one or more position sensors include one or more position sensors of a GPS unit.

28. The system of claim 22, wherein the one or more inertial sensors include one or more inertial sensors of an INS unit.

29. The system of claim 22, wherein the relative navigation data received from the second processor by the navigation avionics platform includes a relative position and velocity between the aircraft and the aircraft carrier.

30. An apparatus guiding the approach and landing of an aircraft, the method comprising:

means for receiving navigation information from the aircraft;

means for receiving navigation information from an aircraft carrier;

means for integrating the navigation information from the aircraft with the navigation information from the aircraft carrier to determine a relative velocity and a relative position between the aircraft and the aircraft carrier; and

means for propagating the relative velocity and the relative position forward in time for navigation purposes.

31. The apparatus of claim 30, wherein means for receiving navigation information from the aircraft comprises means for receiving GPS/INS measurement data from an on-board navigation system.

32. The apparatus of claim 30, wherein means for receiving navigation information from an aircraft carrier comprises means for receiving a broadcast of GPS/INS measurement data from the aircraft carrier.

33. The apparatus of claim 30, wherein means for integrating the navigation information from the aircraft with the navigation information from the aircraft carrier to determine a relative velocity and a relative position between the aircraft and the aircraft carrier comprises:

means for constructing velocity and position vectors of the aircraft;

means for constructing velocity and position vectors of the aircraft carrier;

means for differencing the velocity vector of the aircraft with the velocity vector of the aircraft carrier; and

means for differencing the position vector of the aircraft with the position vector of the aircraft carrier.

34. The apparatus of claim 30, wherein means for propagating the relative velocity and the relative position forward in time comprises:

means for propagating relative velocity and relative position vectors forward in time at the same rate as signals are received from the aircraft carrier; and

means for aiding relative velocity and relative position vectors forward in time at the same rate as GPS signals are recorded by the aircraft and the aircraft carrier.