CASE STUDY OF GPS RETRANSMISSION IN MILITARY GROUND VEHICLES

Global Positioning System (GPS) technology has seen increased use in many different military applications worldwide, beyond navigation. The Warfighter uses GPS to enhance Situational Awareness on the battle field with systems such as Land Warrior, Blue Force Tracker, TIGR, and various electronic mission planning tools in locations where the GPS signals are normally not available. For example, this includes the inside of a HMMWV, Stryker, or MRAP.

GPS retransmission, or the art of repeating a live GPS signal, has evolved into a technically advanced solution to provide GPS signals to the Warfighter mounted inside ground vehicles, protecting themselves from sniper and IED threats, while providing mobility and Situational Awareness from vehicle mounted communication & navigation systems. The objective of this technical paper is to communicate a relevant understanding of how this technology is being embraced by the Warfighter to accomplish their mission safer and more efficiently and to open dialogue on how vehicle integration can improve capability of onboard systems.