Error growth of target states utilizing a swarm of agents in GPS denied area

This paper studies the position error growth of a single target being estimated using a swarm of agents in a GPS denied environment. These results are motivated by two different applications: One being a swarm of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) agents and the other being a swarm of Sonobuoys. The first scenario studied shows the problem of a GPS denied environment and how a swarm of agents can enhance the target position estimate over time, yet still grow unbounded. The second scenario studies the enhancement a swarm of agents can make on a target position estimate in a GPS enable environment. The third scenario studies the target position error in a GPS environment that is denied after a specified time interval. The goal of this research is to understand the enhancements to the (1) target position estimate (2) target position error growth as a function of number of agents in the swarm N. The paper is organized as follows: Introduction and past research; creation of the simulation structure; creation of the truth models for the swarm of agents and target; creation of the estimation scheme (Kalman Filter); Analyzing the results of the simulation.