Image courtesy of BAE Systems.
Global Positioning Systems (GPS) are invaluable to everyday life. Whether it’s finding your way to the airport or guiding a delivery to your door, the civilian world has come to rely on GPS technology.
In the military world, it is critical to outpacing the threat.
GPS delivers critical positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) information to warfighters in hostile and/or physically challenging environments such as sandstorms or fog. First developed during the Cold War, a series of satellites and ground control station elements worked together to create GPS – allowing the end user to determine their location, navigate the battlefield, and complete their mission.
But as the technology is evolving, so has GPS-denied environments from our adversaries. With this in mind, our team at BAE Systems is focusing on innovating GPS technology – making size, weight, power and cost (SWAP-C) the leading considerations to counteract existing and future threats.
This year at the Joint Navigation Conference in San Diego, we unveiled NavGuide™, a next-generation Assured-Positioning, Navigation and Timing (A-PNT) device featuring M-Code GPS technology.
NavGuide is a field-installable replacement to the Defense Advanced GPS Receiver (DAGR™). It is designed for quick integration into current DAGR mounts and accessories with minimal mission interruption. The receiver is also “future-proofed” with a modular open system architecture that allows for ease of scalability.
NavGuide was designed with the user in mind. Every step of its development incorporated details to ensure an intuitive customer experience. Features include:
- A 30-second installation into existing DAGR receiver mounts and accessories
- A three-inch, full-color graphical user interface, as well as a moving map, situational awareness capabilities, and nine-line targeting
- Meets key military environmental requirements
- Satisfies user demand for more secure technology for vehicle navigation — NavGuide leverages the advanced M-Code GPS signal for enhanced jamming and spoofing protection
- Portable, versatile, and precise, and enables vehicular, handheld, sensor, and gun laying applications to defeat adversaries in a variety of challenging threat environments
This high performance system upgrade is cost-effective and provides immediate value to the warfighter. The use of existing hardware in vehicles with existing DAGR systems means minimal training costs. As the U.S. modernizes its warfighting capabilities, we are confident NavGuide is the technology that will sustain and maintain land forces in a contested, multi-domain operations environment.
Our mission is We Protect Those Who Protect Us®. That mission is the blueprint for every product we create, including NavGuide.
With more than 45 years of military GPS experience, our company has delivered nearly two million GPS devices on over 280 platforms around the world. We are confident NavGuide will be the tool that will guide our soldiers safely through the toughest battlefield conditions of today and tomorrow.
Todd Peterson is a director of Engineering for Navigation & Sensor Systems at BAE Systems. He is based in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
