Honeywell to Provide Electronic Navigation for Future Soldier Program
Dead-Reckoning Module Provides Personnel Location Where GPS is Unavailable
(Paris, June 16, 2008) -- Honeywell (NYSE:HON), a leader in inertial navigation technologies, announced today that it has been selected by EADS, the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company, to provide a miniature electronic navigation aid - a Dead-Reckoning Module - that ensures accurate personnel location data in environments where GPS signals are unavailable.
"Honeywell's personnel navigator module provides position data even when the user is inside a building or under tree foliage, and this enables better tracking of teammates in dangerous situations," said Werner Hansli, Honeywell Sales Director, European Land Systems. "This miniature electronic navigation aid is extremely valuable for helping to ensure troop safety in urban warfare and combat where buildings and other obstructions block GPS."
In urban warfare environments it is essential for soldiers to know where colleagues are so missions remain coordinated and cohesive. Troops need continual awareness of unit members' coordinates for status updates and new battle tactics and orders.
In providing accurate position information for the pedestrian user, the light-weight personnel navigator module is attached to the user's vest and when GPS is available identifies the individual's stride length. The electronic aid has multiple sensors - three accelerometer, three gyroscopes, three axis magnetometers and a barometric altimeter - as well as software algorithms that detect and translate the user's motion. When the person steps into a building or under a canopy and loses the GPS signal, the navigation aid takes over and tracks the person's direction and movement to provide a highly accurate position reading. The unit is typically accurate to within two percent of the total distance travelled.
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