The proposed system can be utilized for any NASA mission in which GPS tracking is desired, and is especially useful for small satellites where SWaP concerns are critical. Because the system proposed integrates real time correction messages with a highly accurate codeless GPS navigation system which shares a heritage with JPL Blackjack technology, and utilizes GEONS as a Kalman Filter Navigation engine, deci-meter level positioning accuracies are possible. This high accuracy real time positioning enables future missions in which these are desirable goals. Due to the abilities of the unique receiver design proposed, it is possible to extend the sensor for scientific missions such as ionosphere profiling, and to extend navigation ability to degraded GPS or complex orbits such as those higher than GPS.
The proposed receiver system has significant applicability to DOD needs for positioning in orbits where conventional GPS is difficult, and can be extended to operate in cases where GPS is denied. The ability to produce highly accurate positions in a low cost, low swap, form factor, and in a software defined radio implementation has applications for operationally responsive space, in which a satellite must be assembled and launched quickly. Commercial applications include any application in which highly accurate positioning is required, in any orbital regime. This would include missions in which multiple satellites are required to operate in close proximity at known separations, and in systems in which the location of the satellite must be known to tag the data acquired.
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