Precision RF Ranging as an Aid to Integrated Navigation Systems - ENSCO Geolocation & Navigation Technical Paper (PDF)

Radio-frequency (RF) ranging can be an important aid to an integrated navigation system, providing a key element to updating location information when GNSS systems are unavailable, blocked, or otherwise denied. The majority of the recent literature on RF ranging aids has focused on ultra wideband (UWB) ranging methods, due to the increase in ranging precision that comes with increasing RF bandwidth. Practically, challenges exist with UWB due to implementation difficulties and regulatory limitations. This paper presents our approach to band-limited RF ranging [1, 2] that is highprecision (centimeters), flexible in spectrum utilization, and inexpensive to implement. This band-limited ranging radio architecture has the potential for broad utility as an aid to integrated navigation systems. Several of these potential applications are described in this paper.