Enhanced Path Planning, Guidance, and Estimation Algorithms for NASA's GMAT, Phase II

The Advanced Path Planning (APP) and Advanced Estimation (AE) plugins developed by DECISIVE ANALYTICS Corporation (DAC) for the Generalized Mission Analysis Tool (GMAT) will offer end-users enhanced capabilities to adequately assess and address the effects of system nonlinearities, both in mission design and analysis. The APP plugin will allow GMAT users to leverage concepts from dynamical systems theory, multi-phase targeting, and visualization for trajectory design in regions where multi-body effects are significant, such as near libration points. The AE plugin will offer GMAT users access to algorithms and tools that adequately characterize the effects of nonlinearities in the true posterior probability density during the estimation process, consideration of multi-modal joint distributions, and multi-sensor data fusion. The algorithms and underlying capabilities provided by the products developed under Phase II are generally applicable outside of NASA's mission. One of these products leverages Guide and Adapt, tools for probabilistic inference and multi-sensor data fusion developed by DECISIVE ANALTYICS Corporation under various contracts with the Missile Defense Agency and the US Air Force. Because we already have customers for these tools, any enhanced capabilities developed under a Phase II contract will enable us to provide additional services to them as well. Furthermore, the proposed generalizations to the architectural framework of the multi-phase targeting algorithm will facilitate support of a broader class of problems in path planning and guidance as it pertains to autonomous vehicles. Thus, relevant components of the product can be adapted to satisfy applications relevant to DOD customers as well. More »