GPS Performance Under Aircraft Masking Conditions: AGM-130 Flight Demonstration with Midcourse Guidance

Roy Ketfoot Jr., Wilmer Mickelson, Larry Vittorini, John Nielson

Abstract:	GPS/INS’ navigation is being added to the AGM-130 missile under the Midcourse Guidance (MCG) program led by Rockwell Tactical Systems Division (TSD) and supported by Rockwell Collins Avionics & Commun- ications Division (CACD). The missile, which may be carried by either an F-l 11F or F-HE aircraft, presents a challenging operating environment for GPS. Since the missile flights are of short duration (three minutes or less), it is imperative the receiver have a valid navigation solution prior to missile launch. During captive carriage, the missile GPS antenna is subjected to masking from the aircraft wing and fuselage. The result is that at best, the receiver may use a suboptimal set of satellites and at worst, it operates using less than four SVZ LOS3 measurements. Neither aircraft is presently equipped with GPS, so the use of GPS data from an aircraft receiver is not an option. In addition, the lack of a MIL-STD- 1760 interface on the aircraft precludes performing a transfer alignment of the missile INS from the carrying aircraft INS. A pre- aligned INS would aid in acquiring GPS satellites by reducing position and velocity uncertainties. The AGM-130 MCG concept was demonstrated in flight tests. with results proving that the concerns expressed above were successfully overcome. Both F-l 11F and F-l SE aircraft served as testbeds for the demonstration, conducted at Eglin AFB, using a modified GBU-15 missile; the unpowered predecessor of the AGM-130. A modified version of a Rockwell-Collins P-MIGITS. from which the GPSANS function for MCG is ‘derived, performed as the navigator. P-MIGITS is a general purpose, tightly-coupled, GPWNS system which integrates a low cost multisensor IMU’ with a five channel PPS GPS receiver derived from PLGR6, the JPO’s handheld PPS GPS receiver.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 7th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GPS 1994) September 20 - 23, 1994 Salt Palace Convention Center Salt Lake City, UT
Pages:	823 - 839
Cite this article:	Ketfoot, Roy, Jr., Mickelson, Wilmer, Vittorini, Larry, Nielson, John, "GPS Performance Under Aircraft Masking Conditions: AGM-130 Flight Demonstration with Midcourse Guidance," Proceedings of the 7th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GPS 1994), Salt Lake City, UT, September 1994, pp. 823-839.
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