Architectures and GPS/INS integration: impact on mission accomplishment

It is pointed out that the GPS (Global Positioning System) signal contains information which, when properly combined with information from INS (inertial navigation system) and other sensors, provides exceptionally high-accuracy position, velocity, attitude, and time information. These ten elements of information (three each in position, velocity, and attitude, and one in time) are common, in various combinations, to most of the avionics functions. When viewed from a system perspective, this high-precision information can be thought of as the integration basis, or a reference set, which offers opportunities for reconfiguration of the offensive, defensive, communication, navigation, and other sensors. Various integration architectures for fusion of these sensors can inherently enhance, enable, or severely limit these potential mission capabilities. The choice of integration architecture can directly and profoundly affect performance, cost of integration, cost of ownership, and exploitation of much greater mission capability. This is illustrated with the GPS/INS integration example