Army to hire MAPS contractor for position, navigation, and timing (PNT) even if GPS is denied or spoofed
WASHINGTON – U.S. Army officials say they plan to select a contractor for the service's Mounted Assured Position Navigation and Timing program by the end of September to ensure soldiers know where they are even if GPS isn’t working. C4ISRnet reports. Continue reading original article
The Military & Aerospace Electronics take:
29 Sept. 2020 -- In the meantime, the service will continue to give soldiers access to an earlier version of the position, navigation, and timing (PNT) program over the next two years.
Mounted Assured Position Navigation and Timing, or MAPS, is the Army’s solution to ensuring soldiers know where they are even if the GPS signal is degraded, denied or spoofed. MAPS will be able to fuse PNT data, ingesting information from a variety of sensors providing timing, barometer measurements and inertial navigation to provide an independent alternative that can validate or replace GPS.
MAPS will also be able to deliver M-Code — a more secure military GPS signal — to soldiers. Additionally, the anti-jam antenna being developed with MAPS can be used as a sensor to locate interference, enabling the Army to counter jamming or spoofing.
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John Keller, chief editor
Military & Aerospace Electronics
