The application of the on-board devices radio direction-finding in the navigation systems of drones

Abstract

Problems of the solving the tasks of navigation in the conditions of use by the enemy jammers radio signals from global navigation satellite systems is actual for small military drones during the fighting. Without navigation information unmanned aerial vehicle strays off course and lose the ability to perform combat missions. When you try to control the aircraft by active radio then the stealth mode is broken. This gives the opponent the opportunity to destroy the not hidden aircraft and ground control station.Construction of autonomous navigation systems based on MEMS gyroscopes and accelerometers is difficult due to the fact that they quickly accumulate measurement errors and therefore are not able to provide a reliable solution to problems of navigation. More perfect laser and fiber optic gyros have unacceptable size, weight and cost.The using the passive radio direction finding method is rational for automatically solving navigation tasks. Elements of the spatial antennas arrays of direction finder can be combined with elements of the primary structure of the aircraft. In the zones of local military conflicts usually work continues stationary sources of radio signals civilian use. Such sources can be be used as of radio beacons. The coordinates and characteristics of potential radio beacons must to be stored in the database of the on-board computer of aircraft.The accuracy of navigation by radio beacons depends on the angular error of direction finding and distance to beacon. In most cases, it is sufficient for the automatic flight on a given route and aerial photography.