GPS Provides a Flexible Tool for TSPI Regardless of Type of Vehicle Being Tested

Abstract

The test scenarios of vehicles under test vary greatly depending upon the type of vehicle being tested. This paper will examine the test characteristics of a variety of vehicles and the TSPI requirements of each. The types of platforms to be investigated range from soldiers, jeeps, tanks, helicopters and high performance aircraft to ballistic missiles, air-air, air-ground and ground-air missiles in addition to space vehicles. Each of these platforms exhibits different dynamics and therefore require varying capabilities in the TSPI technique utilized. Selecting the optimum GPS TSPI system for each vehicle and its particular test scenario can present problems to the instrumentation system designer. A comparison of vehicle dynamics, vehicle size, and GPS instrumentation capability will be made so that an optimum GPS instrumentation technique can be selected. This may vary from a single channel C/A-Code man-pack receiver for the soldier, to a multi-channel inertial aided P-Code receiver for the high performance aircraft to a GPS frequency translator tracking system for missiles and space vehicles. This will enable sizing and the selection of the most desirable GPS instrumentation system for each test application.