GPS-INS-Radio and GIS Integration into Handheld Computers for Disperse Civilian and Military Urban Operations

Paul Labbe, Dale Arden, and Li Li

Abstract:	The proposed integration concept extends and insures quality geolocation and information sharing in a dynamic environment where the Global Positioning System (GPS) and communications are often denied to key players involved in critical operations. Such integration relies on robust sources of information such as inertial measures, maps and dynamic network topology. The geolocation and the adaptive network domains inform each other in order to increase their respective performance in terms of speed, accuracy, knowledge and shared awareness. Consequently, the envisaged transceiving handheld computer equipment offers unmatchable situation awareness, information- sharing and network-management opportunities that could significantly improve mission effectiveness and success rate of complex operations, especially under disperse civilian and military urban theatre conditions. In this concept, the proposed equipment is self-aware because it uses, exploits and memorizes information from diverse dependent and independent measures and sources. Then the networked system informs all participating agents and builds a distributed database that increases individual self-awareness and makes shared-awareness a robust reality. In contrast, analyses of joint operations— those among agencies of a country—and coalition operations —those among countries—have shown that although data are often available somewhere within the systems at play, the critical data are not necessarily shared appropriately and are often not transformed into end-users’ knowledge. Exploiting the synergy between self-aware radios, geographic information and navigation systems, and command and control (C2) essential functions, offers participating agents a more effective transformation of the available data into knowledge. At the same time, sharing a common view of such information and providing communications allow developing in real time an evolving common intent and provide the essential landmarks for the synchronization, if not self-synchronization, of actions and tasks of a mission with a lower risk of undesired effects. For emergency operations, this means an increase in timeliness and effectiveness that would translate directly into saved lives. The potential number of users and agencies for such technology integration justifies its exploration, its design and assessment for operations ranging from military routine to disaster relief. The impact on mission effectiveness of integrating positional with geospatial information and other operational information in joint and coalition operations has shown sufficient increase in mission success rate for justifying such technological and cultural changes. For disaster relief, reconstruction, major event, stability, urban, or standing contingency forces operations, proper technology integration, training and planning would improve operations success and tempo, save lives, reduce fratricide and ensure minimal collateral damage.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 2007 National Technical Meeting of The Institute of Navigation January 22 - 24, 2007 The Catamaran Resort Hotel San Diego, CA
Pages:	998 - 1010
Cite this article:	Labbe, Paul, Arden, Dale, Li, Li, "GPS-INS-Radio and GIS Integration into Handheld Computers for Disperse Civilian and Military Urban Operations," Proceedings of the 2007 National Technical Meeting of The Institute of Navigation, San Diego, CA, January 2007, pp. 998-1010.
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