Executives at The Boeing Co. in St. Louis had to find a reliable navigation subsystem for their work on the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s (DARPA’s) Robust Surface Navigation (RSN) program.
Boeing management found its solution, awarding Rosum Corp. of Mountain View, Calif., a defense subcontract for the development of precision navigation subsystems for both urban and indoor environments.
The goal of the RSN program is to deliver precise location information to U.S. warfighters in environments that are not conducive to global positioning system (GPS) technology, such as urban canyons, inside buildings, and in the presence of GPS jammers.
The Boeing-led Robust Surface Navigation team includes Rosum Corp.; NAVSYS of Colorado Springs, Colo.; and Shared Spectrum, of Vienna, Va.
“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,” says Bart Ferrell, Boeing Phantom Works program manager for precision navigation programs.
Rosum engineers will develop subsystems that employ the company’s proprietary position-location technology using terrestrial broadcast signals and augmented broadcast signals. Rosum combines technologies from the GPS, cellular, and broadcast television signals and technologies to provide situational awareness in virtually all environments. For more information, visit Rosum Corp. online at www.rosum.com, and The Boeing Co. at www.boeing.com.
