Challenge: Resilient Non-Global Positioning System (GPS) Based Positioning, Navigation and Timing

Challenge Statement

The Department of National Defence (DND) is looking for non-GPS solutions for positioning, navigation and timing (PNT). Specifically, DND seeks to provide military personnel with continuous and seamless 3D positioning and ad hoc environment mapping under degraded or denied GPS conditions. Military personnel should be able to transition from open environments to urban canyons, and operate from street level to inside buildings and underground without disruptions in their localization and navigation capabilities.

Concepts and systems that exploit recent rapid advances in relevant PNT technologies such as new or advanced sensors, algorithms, integration concepts, and tactical procedures that allow for extremely accurate PNT, are of interest.

This call to develop new, non-satellite based PNT capability for specific requirements and constraints is critical to the development of conventional and autonomous systems requiring robust PNT.

Background and Context

GPS has become ubiquitous on the modern battleground. However, operations often force military personnel into urban, indoor, subterranean or other difficult environments that are affecting the effectiveness of GPS equipment. To fulfil the requirement of providing precise locations in such GPS-denied environments, new systems and techniques are required. The cost, size, weight, and power reductions made possible by the rapid developments in modern technologies and algorithms in an integrated navigation system allow for significant opportunities for innovation.

Outcomes and Considerations

The desired outcome of this effort is to achieve a capability to allow operation without GPS (or any satellite navigation) for at least one hour with navigation error less than 30 meters and timing error less than one microsecond using equipment that can be easily carried by military personnel. The ultimate goal is to obtain "GPS-like" performance (10 meter accuracy) without GPS, indefinitely.

Constraints on proposed solutions include the size, weight, power, performance and cost objective thresholds. These constraints are driven by limitations on personnel weight bearing and power consumption. The system must operate globally, in all-weather, and under all-terrain conditions (i.e. from featureless to underground). There must be no reliance on pre-surveyed/pre-mapped locations or features except during system initialization at a trusted location. There must be seamless context handover (e.g. airborne to underground) without operator intervention.