Navigation, Guidance, Control and Dynamics Commons^™

Radar Based Navigation In Unknown Terrain, Kyle J. Kauffman

Theses and Dissertations

There is a great need to develop non-GPS based methods for positioning and navigation in situations where GPS is not available. This research focuses on the development of an Ultra-Wideband Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexed (UWB-OFDM) radar as a navigation sensor in GPS-denied environments. A side-looking vehicle-fixed UWB-OFDM radar is mounted to a ground or aerial vehicle continuously collecting data. A set of signal processing algorithms and methods are developed which use the raw radar data to aide in calculating the vehicle position and velocity via a simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) approach. The radar processing algorithms detect strong, persistent, and …