Dead-on-Target: An Accurate Alternative Positioning, Navigation, and Timing Solution

This paper presents the innovative ground-based Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) solution, named Dead-on-Target (DoT), which addresses the challenge of secure navigation support for search and rescue and military operations in GPS-denied environments. DoT leverages the matching theory and coalition games to optimize PNT services. Initially, a realistic operational field is designed, with anchor nodes and targets, operating in GPS-denied conditions. Then, the Approximate Dead-on-Target (ADoT) framework is introduced, based on the theory of matching games, to facilitate the selection of optimal anchor nodes for the targets, while the latter ones reside in the Forward Operating Base (FOB). Also, the Accurate Dead-on-Target (AccDoT) solution, grounded in coalition games, enables the collaborative selection of anchor nodes during rescue operations. The paper provides comprehensive numerical results and real-life field testing, demonstrating the effectiveness and scalability of the ADoT and AccDoT algorithms, and offering insights into various operational formations during real-life rescue operations.