New Combo System Blocks Jamming In GPS Denied Environment

Honeywell Aerospace's Inertial Navigation System (INS) navigates without emitting a single GPS signal. Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) ADA GPS anti-jamming system stops jamming signals in their path. Together, these two technologies strive to ensure the survival of GPS navigation in the age of electronic warfare.

“In the face of current threats to GPS, it is essential to be able to combine advanced anti-jamming capabilities within the framework of on-board INS GPS systems,” said Boaz Levi, Executive Vice President of IAI Missile and Space Group.

The IAI and Honeywell Aerospace MoU, which announced the project that will combine INS technology with ADA anti-jamming capabilities, was released this week. ADA technology will become a system component of the on-board INS, according to the IAI press release.

The ADA system is capable of protecting a platform using GPS from multiple sources of jamming signals and can be installed on a wide variety of platforms, from drones to surface vehicles to munitions platforms. IAI reported.

According to industry developers, anti-jamming technologies work by using a sophisticated antenna to receive incoming GPS frequencies in the typical L1 and L2 frequency bands, then convert them to digital frequencies at high speed. Then, the gain pattern shaping algorithms transform the digital frequencies into a single high power output signal. When directed at sources of interference, this signal results in “nulls” or blind spots that the interference signals cannot penetrate. In other words, it channels the GPS signals to electronically jam the signal jammer.

The ADA system can be installed as part of a new anti-jamming GPS receiver or as a “plug and play” feature that can be connected via radio frequency cables to any existing GPS receiver. Typical hardware includes a central processing unit, RF cables connecting to the GPS receiver, and additional cables connecting to the antenna. According to IAI statements, he is about seven by eight cm and weighs just over five pounds.

When combined with the INS, the system will remain compatible with the military GPS frequency currently in use and the next generation m code frequency.

The frequency of the m code is part of the military initiative to keep the GPS signal safe. This is an army-specific signal that uses split spectrum modulation, meaning that most of the signal power is relayed near the edges of the designated bandwidths using a sub - 10.23 MHz square wave carrier. Security of the m-code signal is provided by next-generation cryptography and a new capture architecture, according to a joint military-industry report led by the Air Force's Joint GPS Program Office.

The GPS INS developed by Honeywell uses computers, accelerometers (motion sensors) and gyroscopes (rotation sensors) to calculate speed, position, altitude, platform azimuth and Coordinated Universal Time . According to the American Institute of Aeronautics, the system calculates this information without any external signal link.

Platforms installed with the new built-in INS / ADA system will be able to navigate environments denied by GPS, then reinforce navigation information, and at the same time block jamming signals as ADA system transforms incoming GPS signals.

The exact time at which the new combined system will become available is not yet public information, however, when it becomes available, "the joint product can be deployed as a turnkey solution or as an upgrade. from IAI and Honeywell's existing customer base, ”said Levi.