The integrated navigation capability for the Force XXI Land Warrior

For decades the dismounted soldier has navigated to his mission objective using maps, a compass, and his pace count as navigation tools. Recently, Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers were added as an additional aid to dismounted navigation. However, GPS is limited as a navigation aid by its inability to provide static heading and its lack of availability when used around obstructions (terrain or man-made), or in the presence of jamming. Therefore, maps, a compass, and a pace count are still needed to ensure successful navigation. Under the Force XXI Land Warrior (FXXI LW) program, a Government-Industry team is prototyping an integrated navigation system for the dismounted soldier. The integrated navigation system consists of GPS and a Dead Reckoning Module (DRM). The DRM makes use of state-of-the-art, small, low power electronic components in a single miniaturized package to replace the compass and the need for the soldier to count paces. The DRM design allows hands-free navigation. The DRM data and GPS information are used by a Kalman filter to form an integrated navigation solution by balancing the weaknesses of one sensor using the strengths of the other sensor. The integrated navigation design provides automatic selection of one navigation data source when the data from the other position sensor is corrupted or not available. The design also provides for manual selection/deselection of a navigation source. Upon successful completion of testing, the integrated navigation technology will be transitioned to the Land Warrior (LW) system. This paper will discuss the DRM and the Integrated Navigation development, assessments performed to date, and future plans.