Sea-Based Automated Launch and Recovery System Virtual Testbed

Abstract : The primary objective of the Sea-based Automated Launch and Recovery System (SALRS) program is to enable automated launch and recovery capabilities for sea-based naval aircraft. In support of this objective, the program is exploring the performance of sensors in degraded environments as well as the fusion of data from multiple sensors with Global Positioning System (GPS)/Inertial Navigation System (INS) technology. A simulation capability, the SALRS Virtual Testbed, is being built to facilitate testing of the technologies developed through SALRS in a high fidelity shipboard environment. The components and functionality of the testbed are described. A generic sensor model is used to simulate the effects of noise, dropouts and bias on the navigation signal, and the performance of a helicopter landing on a ship in degraded conditions is evaluated. Multiple sensor types are integrated with an Extended Kalman Filter to study sensor fusion in a fixed wing aircraft shipboard recovery scenario.