Highly Accurate GPS-Denied PNT Using Direct Doppler Lidar Measurements

2024-01-4065

8/10/2023

Authors
Abstract
Content
On the modern battlefield, Global Positioning System (GPS) can be unreliable in contested environments due to jamming or signal loss. Existing alternatives like high-accuracy inertial navigation systems (INS) are prone to higher drifts over distances with platform dependent performance, while solutions like Visual-Inertial Odometry (VIO) and Lidar-Inertial Odometry (LIO) lack accuracy and robustness on challenging terrain. We present a novel Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) solution that overcomes these limitations. It integrates inertial measurements from an IMU and doppler measurements from a Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave (FMCW) LiDAR within a non-linear filtering framework to robustly measure motion states that achieve up to 0.1% Cross Track Error (CTE) rate in real-time. Furthermore, unlike solutions reliant on wheel speed sensors, our method requires no platform-specific information and is resilient to environmental factors such as wheel-slip, dynamic lighting, and weather conditions. This makes it highly portable, scalable, dependable, and readily deployable on a diverse set of platforms like ground vehicles, low-altitude drones, and even dismounted soldiers. Compared to traditional Time-of-Flight (ToF) LiDAR systems that operate in the Near Infrared (NIR) spectrum, FMCW LiDARs offer lower detectability due to their operation at lower peak power and within the Short-wave Infrared (SWIR) spectrum. In the face of increasing GPS disruptions and the proliferation of autonomy in military applications, our method provides a dependable solution for Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) in a broad variety of challenging scenarios.
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DOI
https://doi.org/10.4271/2024-01-4065
Citation
Templeton, J., Gill, J., Jakhotia, A., and Pazhayampallil, J., "Highly Accurate GPS-Denied PNT Using Direct Doppler Lidar Measurements," 2024 NDIA Michigan Chapter Ground Vehicle Systems Engineering and Technology Symposium, Novi, Michigan, United States, August 13, 2024, https://doi.org/10.4271/2024-01-4065.
Additional Details
Publisher
Published
8/10/2023
Product Code
2024-01-4065
Content Type
Technical Paper
Language
English