The Critical Role of Inertial Navigation in Armored Combat Vehicles: Ensuring Precision in GNSS-Denied Environments

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3 September 2024

The Importance of Inertial Navigation for Armored Combat Vehicles
INS Applications for Armored Vehicles in GNSS-Denied Environments
Advanced INS Features for Defense Applications
INS Implementation in Real-World Armored Vehicles
What Sets Advanced Navigation INS Solutions Apart
How Inertial Navigation Will Evolve With APNT Technology

The Importance of Inertial Navigation for Armored Combat Vehicles

Over the past decade, defense forces worldwide have faced increasingly complex challenges, such as electronic warfare, GPS interference and disruptive espionage. These have exposed vulnerabilities in traditional Position, Navigation and Timing (PNT) technologies, most notably the over-reliance on Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS), such as GPS for navigation.

With low-cost GPS jamming and spoofing technologies becoming widely available, relying solely on GPS for navigation has become an increasingly risky option for armored combat vehicles. Despite the dangers, many defense fleets around the world remain ill-equipped to navigate effectively through contested environments where GPS is compromised.

The integration of inertial navigation systems (INS) into armored vehicle fleets has therefore become increasingly vital for maintaining assured PNT and national security. This urgency is evident with The White House Office of Science and Technology adding it to its 2024 list of Critical and Emerging Technologies.

As GPS jamming becomes more prevalent, INS technologies, a form of dead reckoning leveraging accelerometers, gyroscopes and sometimes magnetometers to determine an object’s position, orientation and velocity, will be indispensable. Unlike GPS, INS does not rely on satellite signals, so vehicles can remain operational even in the most demanding environments.

INS Applications for Armored Vehicles in GNSS-Denied Environments

In contested regions like Ukraine and the Middle East, where GPS jamming and spoofing are rampant, alternative APNT technologies, such as INS have become crucial for a range of applications.

Serving as both the primary and secondary navigation aids, alongside compass systems and maps, INS provides continuous, real-time navigation data essential for collision avoidance, path planning and situational awareness. Additionally, they can enable armored vehicles to operate with enhanced autonomy.

Rapid and precise north-seeking is one of the most crucial capabilities for armored vehicles out on the battlefield. Strategic-grade INS units like Advanced Navigation’s Boreas GNSS/INS are built with highly sensitive gyroscopes capable of detecting the Earth’s rotation and measuring angular velocities of less than 15°/hr. This precision allows for rapid north-seeking, achieving coarse alignment within 2 minutes and fine alignment in just 10. Such speed is essential for maintaining combat and tactical readiness, enabling vehicles to swiftly determine their heading and adapt to different scenarios.

Precise pointing and turret stabilization are also key applications of INS systems in armored vehicles, enabling operators to maintain precise pointing capabilities.. For these systems, MEMS-based inertial measurement units (IMU) are typically used such as Advanced Navigation’s Motus. These units, commonly available in OEM form, can be easily integrated into gimbaled rotary platforms. Their precision is especially vital for long-range systems, ensuring both pointing and tracking accuracy.

Advanced INS Features for Defense Applications

Historically, INS solutions were only fitted onto specialized vehicles due to their high costs and engineering challenges. However, evolutionary advancements have all but eliminated their cost and complexity, making them far more accessible. Nevertheless, for defense applications, they need to meet strict military specifications and requirements to ensure their reliability and suitability in demanding environments.

High-precision accelerometers and gyroscopes are essential for ensuring the accuracy and reliability of INS systems. By fusing these sensors with input from other sources, high-accuracy INS solutions can detect the smallest changes in movement, enabling it to gather highly accurate navigation data.

Robust defense-grade materials and designs are necessary to withstand extreme conditions that armored vehicles may encounter, including high vibrations, severe temperature fluctuations and exposure to harsh climates. Needless to say, reliability in these conditions is vital, as any system failure could jeopardize missions.

Seamless integration and scalability are vital for smooth INS integration into large vehicle fleets. This helps ensure that the INS can be easily deployed across a wide range of vehicles, without the need for extensive vehicle modifications.

INS Implementation in Real-World Armored Vehicles

When it comes to INS suppliers, Advanced Navigation has established itself as one of the most innovative and trusted manufacturers. In fact, nine of the largest defense primes rely on Advanced Navigation’s solutions, including Hanwha and Rheinmetall, who develop armored vehicles for the Australian Defence Force.

For their respective vehicle builds, both companies have chosen Advanced Navigation for their primary navigation solution, with Hanwha selecting Boreas D70 and Rheinmetall opting for a strategic grade FOG INS.

Boreas D70, Advanced Navigation’s defense-grade INS, offers ultra-precise navigation and heading thanks to its world-first Digital Fiber Optic Gyroscope (FOG) technology. Featuring a bias stability of 0.001°/hr , position accuracy of 0.01m and a heading accuracy of 0.01°, the system ensures precision navigation even in GNSS-denied environments. Its custom-made optical coils and advanced digital technologies not only enhance precision but also reduce size, weight and power requirements (SWaP-C), making it one of the best performance-to-value INS solutions available.

Indeed, these attributes were key factors in Hanwha’s decision to secure 138 Boreas D70 units for integration into their Redback Infantry Fighting Vehicle (IFV).

Hanwha Selects Advanced Navigation in $8.7 Million Deal for GNSS-Degraded Navigation

Hanwha Redback infantry fighting vehicle (IFV)

What Sets Advanced Navigation INS Solutions Apart

Given the growing demand for reliable, high-performance INS solutions, Advanced Navigation has made significant advancements to this technology over the past decade. While Advanced Navigation’s Boreas D90 represent some of the best innovations in PNT technology, what truly sets them apart goes beyond their technical specifications. It’s the unwavering commitment to ease of integration and customer-focused support that make their products stand out.

Ease of integration is perhaps the key benefit of Advanced Navigation’s systems, which are designed to be universally compatible and protocol-agnostic. This makes them easy to integrate into a range of vehicle platforms without requiring modifications.

Quick product delivery is another key strength, with Advanced Navigation committed to keeping products readily available off the shelf and typically delivering within weeks. Their ITAR-free status also simplifies procurement processes and broadens their global reach, making their systems a preferred choice for many defense primes worldwide.

Advanced onshore manufacturing is another significant advantage. As an Australian-based manufacturer, Advanced Navigation aligns with Pillar 2 of the trilateral AUKUS agreement, which seeks to enhance the stability, security and manufacturing capacity of critical technologies among the UK, Australia and the USA. This not only keeps critical technology within allied nations but also facilitates supply chain resilience and reduces reliance on foreign suppliers.

Advanced Navigation products undergo stringent quality control and calibration to meet specifications.

How Inertial Navigation Will Evolve With PNT Technology

As military operations grow increasingly complex and span multiple frontiers – land, air, sea and space – the need for assured PNT to enable missions has never been more essential. The rising prevalence of GPS spoofing and jamming, where signals can be easily disrupted or denied, highlights the need to evolve and develop alternative solutions. This is why INS technologies deserve more attention, investment and improvement.

In response, Advanced Navigation has been developing new sensor technologies and improving filter algorithms to enhance INS precision and reliability, pushing the boundaries of what could be historically achieved. For example, ultra-accurate systems like the Boreas D90 can now deliver precision navigation data for significantly longer periods without GPS signals.

Advanced Navigation Expands Boreas Digital Fibre-Optic Gyroscope Range with New A Series

Boreas, Digital Fiber Optic Gyroscope Technology

The impact of these systems extends beyond armored vehicles. Modern INS are now seldom used as standalone devices but often integrated with broader multi-source PNT systems and defense capabilities, i.e., they not only deliver the inertial data needed to navigate battlefields but the capability needed to navigate contemporary warfare.

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