Application of laser range scanner based terrain referenced navigation systems for aircraft guidance

This paper discusses the various aspects of using airborne laser scanners (ALS) in terrain referenced navigation (TRN) systems. The paper addresses the system performance of these new ALS-based systems and compares their performance to traditional terrain referenced navigation systems based on radar altimeter and baro-altimeter sensors. The TRN system comparison also includes an inertial measurement unit (IMU) error sensitivity analysis and a discussion on the requirements imposed on the information content in the terrain elevation database by the remote sensor. The paper will use flight test data collected with Ohio University's DC-3Flying Laboratory in Braxton, WV to evaluate the various methodologies and analyses.