Lessons learned: PATRIOT PLGR integration

The PATRIOT air defence system is composed of fire units (FU). Each FU includes; radar sets, missile launcher stations, and engagement control stations. There are nominally eight launchers per radar. Each radar must be precisely emplaced with respect to an absolute coordinate frame, and each launcher must be precisely emplaced with respect to its radar. In order to enhance PATRIOT's mobility, reduce the chances of human error, and eliminate its dependence on survey, the emplacement enhancement program (EEP) was born. The EEP automates emplacement by incorporating a north finding system (NFS) for attitude determination and a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver for positioning. The GPS receiver currently being utilized is the precision lightweight GPS receiver (PLGR). The PLGR and the NFS are integrated into each radar and launcher via a GPS/NFS input/output (GNIO) card. This paper details the lessons learned during the course of this integration effort.