Northrop Grumman's approach moves the burden of a trusted A-PNT Hub away from sole reliance on GPS to the complementary use of inertial devices augmented with additional alternative methods of navigation.
Inertial Navigation Systems calculate direction moved over time, with a varying degree of drift, and with the use of high-precision oscillators provide continuity of time. The great advantage of the Inertial Navigation System is that it cannot be spoofed or jammed.
On an individual platform, there may be a number of sensors, each of which is a potential source of complementary information to support navigation. Northrop Grumman's solution harnesses as much of this sensor data as possible to contribute to an accurate and robust A-PNT solution, which will be trusted. The core of this philosophy is a software-defined open architecture that can affordably integrate data from diverse sensors, both GPS and non-GPS, in a single hub for distribution throughout the platform.
