Modular Affordable GPS INS (MAGI)

This system combines a commercial GPS unit with an inertial measurement unit. The entire system is modular and uses the compactPCI platform. It has six different modules which can be upgraded or replaced individually without affecting the overall size and shape of the system. It has a processor module, a GPS module, an INS module, an I/O interface module, a solid state drive module, and a power supply; all plugged into a common back plane. Each active module has its own software drivers. The system is designed with a small footprint Windows NT OS at the time of delivery, however, it can support other OS. The system can be operated as a desktop PC based system, or can just hang on network as an Ethernet node. The photo inserts on the right hand side show MAGI's front panel and IMU housing.

TSPIGII is a miniature version of the MAGI. It consists of a flat-pack IMU, a processor board with a dual core power PC, 2 GB RAM, and 16 GB Flash, a third board with a commercial GPS chipset, USB, Ethernet, RS232 and other power conditioning hardware. The packaged TSPIGII system measures 50mmX50mmX25mm. A customized small footprint embedded Linux is loaded for system processing and interfacing with the outside world. Currently it is programmed to provide three nav solutions-GPS alone, INS alone and a tightly coupled solution.

Self Initializing INS with Sony GPS (2-Board System)

The MAGI and TSPIGII systems as mentioned above requires initialization before they can start their strapdown INS computations. A single GPS can provide only its position, not the heading. As a further evolution of TSPIGII, a triad of magnetic field sensors was incorporated, and the GPS unit was also merged in the same board as shown in the above photographs. Thus, the unit not only knows its initial position via GPS, it also knows the orientation of its strapdown sensor axes relative to magnetic north and Earth's local gravity vector. This reduces the number boards to two in an INS/GPS coupled system-one for all sensors and the other for a microprocessor.

Self Initializing COMPACT INS with Lotus GPS (1-Board System)

The board shown above replaces the Sony GPS chip with one from Lotus (It actually is based on a derivative of old Motorola GPS chips). Moreover, this board includes a microprocessor and its associated memory as well. Thus, it is a single board self initializing INS/GPS system.