Systematic approach to error budget analysis for integrated sensor systems

Multi-sensor integration (fusion) has the potential to provide increased detection volume, complementary coverage, improved track accuracy and track continuity, and is a key feature being investigated for TIS-B and proposed for the overall Safe Flight 21 architecture. Tracking accuracy is a critical characteristic of any proposed system concept and is the focus of the analysis discussed in this paper. Methods for determining whether or not a particular system concept can produce tracking accuracies sufficient to meet the requirements for the anticipated applications must be developed. This paper describes a high level, end-to-end error budget analysis approach for statistically quantifying tracking errors at the end user. The approach uses Monte Carlo techniques to provide quantifiable statistical results that can be used for performance prediction, requirement refinement, and error budget allocation. The paper also discusses the need to carefully develop and articulate the track accuracy requirements for applications so that a system concept evaluation can be completed. An example analysis for the SF-21 Enhanced Visual Acquisition application using TIS-B illustrates this approach and how it can be extended to the development of other SF-21 applications.