An overview of a Global Positioning System Mission Planner implemented on a personal computer

Development of a GPS Mission Planner (GMP) tool implemented on an IBM PC in terms of its features and architecture is described and sample outputs are presented. The GMP has been written to allow operational units to program missions and to accomplish survivability and navigation assessments based on realistic trajectories, broadband jammer specifications, GPS almanac data, and digital terrain elevation data. GMP supports trajectory generation for generic naval, air or land craft and has 'sanity' checks for acceleration, terrain slope, altitude, and velocity limits. A navigation assessment program emulates a multichannel receiver to generate location and velocity measurement uncertainties. An integrated Kalman filter provides velocity and position estimates utilizing a generic inertial measurement unit and the GPS receiver measurement statistics. Results are graphically shown to the operator so that navigation and survivability requirements can be judged and the mission revised accordingly. The lessons learned in development of a PC-based mission planning tool are also discussed.