DARPA Seeks GPS Complement

A Boeing-led team is working on a so-called Robust Surface Navigation (RSN) concept for the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). The objective of the RSN program is to develop navigation technology that can be exploited in the event GPS signals are jammed, blocked or otherwise unavailable.

In theory an RSN system would utilize various “signals of opportunity” — signals emanating from satellites, but also those emanating from cell phone towers and television transmission towers, for example — to provide precise location and navigation information to users on the ground.

“The challenge is to develop an integrated system that can use all available signals — not just GPS — to provide accurate navigation information through one small receiver, thereby eliminating the need for an expensive, fixed infrastructure,” Bart Ferrell, Boeing Phantom Works program manager for Precision Navigation Programs, said in a statement.

The Boeing-led RSN team is beginning its 15-month Phase 1 concept development contract. The team includes Rosum of Mountain View, Calif.; Shared Spectrum, of Vienna, Va.; and veteran GPS navigation company Navsys.

Rosum has used broadcast television signals to locate mobile assets and has combined television and GPS signals in location-based applications. Shared Spectrum supplies cognitive radio technologies for government and commercial customers with challenging radio communications and networking needs. Its expertise includes defense communications in extremely challenging RF conditions and commercial communications involving novel approaches to sharing and managing spectrum access.