SEMINAR REPORT 2008-09 SATRACK INTRODUCTION According to the dictionary guidance is the process of guiding the path of an obj

ect towards a given point, which in general may be moving. The process of guidanc e is based on the position and velocity if the target relative to the guided obj ect. The present day ballistic missiles are all guided using the global position ing system or GPS.GPS uses satellites as instruments for sending signals to the missile during flight and to guide it to the target. SATRACK is a system that wa s developed to provide an evaluation methodology for the guidance system of the ballistic missiles. This was developed as a comprehensive test and evaluation pr ogram to validate the integrated weapons system design for nuclear powered subma rines launched ballistic missiles. This is based on the tracking signals receive d at the missile from the GPS satellites. SATRACK has the ability to receive rec ord, rebroadcast and track the satellite signals. SATRACK facility also has the great advantage that the whole data obtained from the test flights can be used t o obtain a guidance error model. The recorded data along with the simulation dat a from the models can -1DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER ENGG GOVT.W .P.T.C.NEDUPUZHA

SEMINAR REPORT 2008-09 SATRACK produce a comprehensive guidance error model. This will result in the solution t hat is the best flight path for the missile. -2DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER ENGG GOVT.W .P.T.C.NEDUPUZHA

SEMINAR REPORT 2008-09 SATRACK GPS SIGNALS The signals for the GPS satellite navigation are two Lband frequency signals. Th ey can be called L1 and L2.L1 is at 1575.42 MHz and L2 at 1227.60 MHz .The modul ations used for these GPS signals are 1. 2. Narrow band clear/acquisition code with 2MHz bandwidth. Wide band encrypted P co de with 20MHz bandwidth. L1 is modulated using the narrow band C/A code only. This signal will give an ac curacy of close to a 100m only. L2 is modulated using the P code. This code give s a higher accuracy close to 10m that is why they are encrypted. The parameters that a GPS signal carries are latitude, longitude, altitude and time. The modula tions applied to each frequency provide the basis for epoch measurements used to determine the distances to each satellite. Tracking of the dual frequency GPS signals provides a way to correct measurements from the effect of refraction through the ionosph ere. An alternate -3DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER ENGG GOVT.W .P.T.C.NEDUPUZHA

SEMINAR REPORT 2008-09 SATRACK frequency L3 at 1381.05MHz was also used to compensate for the IONOSPHERIC effec ts. -4DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER ENGG GOVT.W .P.T.C.NEDUPUZHA

SEMINAR REPORT 2008-09 SATRACK -5DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER ENGG GOVT.W .P.T.C.NEDUPUZHA

SEMINAR REPORT 2008-09 SATRACK Fig:1 Satrack concept SATRACK CONCEPT Guidance system evaluation concept of very early weapons systems depended on the impact scoring techniques. This means that the missile was shot and the accurac y was formulated on the scoring or the target destruction. This -6DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER ENGG GOVT.W .P.T.C.NEDUPUZHA

SEMINAR REPORT 2008-09 SATRACK evaluation method was unacceptable for evaluating the more precise requirements of the latest systems. A new methodology was needed that provided insights into the major error contributors within the flight-test environment. The existing range instrumentat ion was largely provided by radar systems. They however did not provide the need ed accuracy or range in the broad ocean test ranges. The accuracy projections ne eded to be based on the high confidence understanding of the underlying system p arameters. SATRACK was developed with the necessary hardware and telemetry stati ons. The figure shows the SATRACK measurement concept. The main parts are the GPS sat ellites, the missile translator and ground telemetry stations. The missile recei ves the signals from the GPS satellites. They are translated to another frequenc y and relayed to the ground telemetry stations. The telemetry station records th e data for playback and for post processing. The satellite signals received at the missile are translated to S-band frequenci es for the telemetry station using the missile hardware called translators. The ground based telemetry station record the data after reception through the anten na after -7DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER ENGG GOVT.W .P.T.C.NEDUPUZHA

SEMINAR REPORT 2008-09 SATRACK digitising the signals. Some ground sites uses L1 C/A signals to provide real ti me tracking solutions. -8DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER ENGG GOVT.W .P.T.C.NEDUPUZHA

SEMINAR REPORT 2008-09 SATRACK GPS TRANSLATOR This flight hardware is fixed in the missile. The translator receives the GPS si gnals and they are amplified, shifted to an intermediate frequency, filtered to cover the satellite signal modulation bandwidth, shifted to an output frequency. Then they are amplified for transmission to one or more ground stations. -9DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER ENGG GOVT.W .P.T.C.NEDUPUZHA

SEMINAR REPORT 2008-09 SATRACK Fig. 2 GPS Translator -10DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER ENGG GOVT.W .P.T.C.NEDUPUZHA

SEMINAR REPORT 2008-09 SATRACK The translator does the following 1. 2. 3. Received the satellite signal Transla ted it to a missile telemetry frequency (S-band) Rebroadcast the received signal GPS translator are of both Analog and digital types The Analog translators heter odyne the L-band signal to S-band adds a pilot carrier to allow the monitoring o f the reference oscillator variations. Both wide and narrow band type of Analog translators are used. Digital translators down-convert the received L-band GPS s ignal to near base band and digitises it. This digitised data is modulated into an S-band carrier and transmitted to the ground stations. FIELD SUPPORT EQUIPMENT SATRACK is the most useful tool because of its post flight processing facility . The ground equipment consists of receiving antenna, data recorder and auxiliary reference timing systems. The equipment receives the translated GPS signal along with other telemetry signals and distributes it to the data recorder. Most grou nd stations are capable of generating a precise atomic timing standard. The earl ier -11DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER ENGG GOVT.W .P.T.C.NEDUPUZHA

SEMINAR REPORT 2008-09 SATRACK equipments were narrowband recorders that relied on highspeed tape recorders. Th ese gave up to 14 tracks of recording channels with four mega samples per second . The translator processing system was developed for the national missile defenc e exoatmospheric re-entry intercept subsystem where it served as a real-time GPS processor for range safety as well as data recorder. Some later versions were c apable of processing data from both analogue and digital translators. PORTABLE GROUND EQUIPMENT This hardware is used for the post flight processing and tracking of the satelli te signals. The SATRACK facility processes the raw data into a time series of ra nge and Doppler measurements for each satellite, and the Kalman filter, which in corporates various corrections and generates a navigation solution for the missi le. The system has undergone a lot of redesign and development as the requiremen ts evolved with new type of translators and receivers. The latest system process es the wideband L1/L2 signals dual frequency P-code as required by wide band tra nslators. The system hardware is based on Analog Device SHARC processor. Most of the custom GPS processing hardware is based on field programmable gate -12DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER ENGG GOVT.W .P.T.C.NEDUPUZHA

SEMINAR REPORT 2008-09 SATRACK arrays [FPGA]. Each board has the ability to track up to eight channels. The use r interface is done using windows based PC workstations. POST FLIGHT TRACKING AND DATA PROCESSING This is the most important part of the SATRACK technology FIG 3 Basic SATRACK configurations. For a number of days surrounding the missile flight, GPS signals are received, t racked, and recorded at the GPS tracking sites. -13DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER ENGG GOVT.W .P.T.C.NEDUPUZHA

SEMINAR REPORT 2008-09 SATRACK During the missile flight, GPS signals are received by missile, translated in fr equency, and transmitted to the surface station(s). A tracking antenna at the st ation receives the missile signals, separates the various components and records the data. The post-flight process uses the recorded data to give satellite ephe meredes clock estimates tracked signal-data from the post-flight receiver, and m issile guidance sensor data. After the signal tracking data are corrected, the e ntire data element and the system models are used by the missile processor to pr oduce the flight test data products. -14DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER ENGG GOVT.W .P.T.C.NEDUPUZHA

SEMINAR REPORT 2008-09 SATRACK The figure shows how the post flight tracking facility accomplishes precision tr acking of the GPS signals through the playback of the recorded translator signal s. High accuracy satellite ephemeredes and the clock estimate covering their spa n of test flight is obtained. These data along with the processed telemetry data help provide the tracking aids for the post flight receiver and measurement est imates for the missile processor. The translator passes signal for all the satel lite in view of the missile antenna and the post flight receiver provides all in view satellite signal tracking. During play back satellite signals are tracked through delay locked loops. For range code modulation and phase locked loops for carrier phase tracking. The post flight processing of the recorded data is used to test the accuracy of the measurements that is to evaluate the guidance syste m. The concept can be explained based on the block diagram given below. -15DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER ENGG GOVT.W .P.T.C.NEDUPUZHA

SEMINAR REPORT 2008-09 SATRACK Fig: 4 strategic weapons systems accuracy evaluation concept The procedure was developed by whish the uncertainties with whish we observe a p erformance as well as the finitude of test programs was translated in to specifi ed confidence in the accuracy parameters being estimated. Information theory pro vided the basis for developing the algorithms that could quantify the confidence with which accuracy could be estimated. Next performance needed to be known, no t just the system level but at the subsystem level also. The accuracy evaluation program had to be able to isolate faults and estimate performance of the subsys tems or the various phases of the system. Since the allowable number of test use d for the determination of estimates were limited to 10to 20 the instrumentation had to be of high quality to provide the high confidence measurements hence to get good confidence estimates. In addition to this, we also needed to -16DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER ENGG GOVT.W .P.T.C.NEDUPUZHA

SEMINAR REPORT 2008-09 SATRACK extrapolate the untested condition that is to predict tactical performance with high-quantified confidence from test data. Data from each accuracy test was anal ysed using some variant of the Kalman filter. Within these filters are the detai led models of both the system and the instrumentation for each system. The figur e depicts how this analysis is accomplished. Given a particular test or scenario measurement, data are collected on the various subsystems. Using rigorous metho ds, these data are collected with prior information generally developed and main tained by builders of the various parts of the system under test. This prior inf ormation is necessary for the single test processing, given the incomplete obser vability of the error sources. The outputs of the filter provide the basis for u nderstanding particular realizations of system and subsystem behaviour. Analysis results provide insight in to the sources and causes of the inaccuracy. The res ults of the multiple tests the outputs of the Kalman filter serve as the inputs to the cumulative parameter estimation process. All prior information regarding th e relative error models is removed so that the estimate accuracy is derived sole ly from the test data. -17DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER ENGG GOVT.W .P.T.C.NEDUPUZHA

SEMINAR REPORT 2008-09 SATRACK Fig: 5 reconstructions of sources of missile impact miss distance error The grap h shows a hypothetical diagram used to allocate contributions to the impact miss . This method is based on projecting each error contributor and its uncertainty into impact domain. 1. first level allocation is at the subsystem level: initial conditions, guidance, and deployment and re-entry 2. second-level allocation pr ovides data for major error groups within each subsystem eg: accelerometers 3. Third-level allocation (not given in figure) produces estimates of fundamental error terms of guidance model eg: an accelerometer scal e factor error. -18DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER ENGG GOVT.W .P.T.C.NEDUPUZHA

SEMINAR REPORT 2008-09 SATRACK This process solves the highly non linear equations for the means, variances, an d Markov parameters that characterize the overall system accuracy performance. In addition uncertainties in the parameter estimate s are calculated so that we have a quantitative measure of our confidence in the solution .The ultimate desired product is system performance under tactical not test conditions. Here we rely heavily on the tactical gravity and weather condi tions These developed along from with data and instrumentation. models determini stic simulations of the system are then used to propagate the fundamental model param eter estimates and the uncertainties to the domain of interest-system accuracy a t the target. The carrier phase tracking of the signals provide the critical mea surements .The measurements of the GPS signal; phase sense range changes along t he line of sight for each signal to a small fraction of the wavelength usually a few millimetres. These measurements which when compared to their values compute d from guidance sensor data and satellite position and velocity estimates, provi de most of the information. Noise in the measurement of the recovered GPS range code signals is of secondary importance. In essence, the inertial sensors provid e high frequency motion information -19DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER ENGG GOVT.W .P.T.C.NEDUPUZHA

SEMINAR REPORT 2008-09 SATRACK better than the signal processes, the Doppler information senses the systematic errors associated with the inertial sensors and the range data provide an initia l condition for all the dynamic measurements. The range noise remaining after th e process of smoothing of the noise is smaller than the other bias like uncertai nties that set the limit on absolute position accuracy e.g.: the satellite posit ion. The missile and satellite trajectories including stimulated errors for satellite position and clocks were used dot drive the sate llite signal generators to produce the simulated GPS signals. These are then pas sed through digitally controlled phase shifters and time multiplexing switch to emulate the missile GPS antenna network. This is connected to a missile translat or hardware simulator that produced the GPS signals at S-band. An S-band antenna hardware simulator produced the outputs, which were recorded by the prototype t elemetry station receiver, and the recording equipment .The hardware simulator d rivers were conditioned to encompass all anticipated effects including signal re fraction through the ionosphere site. The post flight processing facility now ha s all the inputs, GPS ephemeredes, clock files, and telemetry data and -20and troposphere. The recorded data were equivalent to the data that would be received from telemetry DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER ENGG GOVT.W .P.T.C.NEDUPUZHA

SEMINAR REPORT 2008-09 SATRACK translated signal data tape. These data are then processed and an estimate of th e underlying model errors is produced. In addition, the testing of the post proc essing system is done by this method. EVOLUTION OF SATRACK SATRACK has evolved over a quarter century. The original development for the Tri dent I missile (C4) began in earn -est. in1974.4 The C4 version (SATRACKI) was a technology develop -pment program aimed at(1) gaining insight into what was nee ded for improved accuracy and (2) developing an adequate accuracy evaluation n e volved, is the fulfilment of objective.SATRACK I proved that system. SATRACK, as it the second major it could provide adequate estimates of guidance subsystem errors for individual flights. It was a pioneeri ng effort in that both the tracking methods and the large Kalman filter processi ng techniques were pushing the state-of the-art. The second phase (SATRACK II) w as a major upgrade in response to the stringent measurement requirements set by the Accuracy Evaluation System study.5 The study established the total weapon sy stem instrumentation requirements for the Trident II (D5) missile in accordance with -21DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER ENGG GOVT.W .P.T.C.NEDUPUZHA

SEMINAR REPORT 2008-09 SATRACK specified accuracy evaluation objectives, Including SATRACK as well as other upg rade prelaunch, has been in-flight, initiated and to Re-entry replace area aging instrumentation. SATRACK II has been operational since 1987. A general componen ts of the D5 test system. The new SATRACK ground recording equipment is currently in the final stages of c heckout, upgrading at the post flight facility is well along, test and prelimina ry is design of replacement missile components beginning. Furthermore, efforts have been focused for the last several years on a new GPS t ranslator system to support Trident reentry body testing. The upgraded system wi ll not only modernize the facility hardware and software functions, it will also substantially extend SATRACK Performance capabilities. and its influence on the Peacekeeper guidance model. The Navy will continue to test and evaluate the Tri dent Weapon System with the primary goals of detecting changes to system perform ance caused by aging components and assessing system modifications needed to ext end its lifetime. In this regard, we recognize that SATRACK evaluation is only o ne part of system accuracy assessment, and accuracy assessment is only a part of the total weapon system evaluation. Equal diligence is needed in all aspects of monitoring and maintaining the Trident system. Continued D5 -22DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER ENGG GOVT.W .P.T.C.NEDUPUZHA

SEMINAR REPORT 2008-09 SATRACK accuracy evaluation support will remain the primary objective for SATRACK. Howev er, in parallel with this activity, we have identified a natural extension of SA TRACK capabilities that can support precision intercept evaluations for national and theatre ballistic missile defence flight tests. This realization grew out of our ERIS flight test experience and our support to the Strategic Defence Initiative Organization for the development of a precision intercept test capability for the Brilliant Pebbles Program. Both of these proj ects and the continued support of NMD test objectives have, with Navy concurrenc e, taken advantage of the unique APL facilities developed for Trident. As noted in a companion article (Thompson, this issue) on a high-precision sled test, we successfully completed an IR&D project devoted to demonstrating the measurement capability needed for precision intercept test evaluations. An earlier IR&D proj ect developed a translator design for this purpose that was the basis for a new Trident translator system used for supporting special reentry body tests. The up graded SATRACK postflight tracking facility will support existing C4 and D5 tran slators and reentry body translators as well as the replacement translator to be selected for the new D5 test missile kit. When completed, we will refer -23DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER ENGG GOVT.W .P.T.C.NEDUPUZHA

SEMINAR REPORT 2008-09 SATRACK to this configuration as SATRACK III, which will take full advantage of technolo gy growth in processing hardware and software to produce a workstation-based fac ility that is easily reconfigured to support a wide range of tests.The capabilit ies of the new configuration and the expected reduced test tempo of Trident flig ht tests naturally produce a processing capacity that can be extended to support critical ballistic intercept testing of other high-priority defense programs. O ur studies indicate that this capability is required to adequately support model validation of precision missile intercept systems, and we have configured the p ostflight tracking subsystem architecture to be easily expanded to eventually su pport such tests. The office responsible for general range applications, RAJPO, is developing a translator-based GPS range system (TGRS) that includes a capabil ity for intercept support missions. This system is intended to serve both range safety and postflight evaluation objectives for a variety of range users. Many n ew applications are expected to use TGRS digital translators and their ground st ation recording equipment. A newupgrade to the APL postflight tracking facility will provide an interface for TGRS data processing in the near future. -24DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER ENGG GOVT.W .P.T.C.NEDUPUZHA

SEMINAR REPORT 2008-09 SATRACK MAJOR BREAKTHROUGHS EVALUATION CAPABILITY FOR CUMULATIVE FLIGHT The limitations of the test geometry prohibit observations of all the errors in any single flight test. Since each t est flight provides observations of the underlying system missile guidance error models, the data can be combined from may flight tests. The final cumulative an alysis of flight test data produces a guidance error model of the weapons system . It combines observations from each flight to derive a missile guidance model t hat is both tactically representative and based completely on the flight test da ta. This model combined with other similarly derived sub system models helps dev elop planning factors used to assign weapons system targets 1. -25DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER ENGG GOVT.W .P.T.C.NEDUPUZHA

SEMINAR REPORT 2008-09 SATRACK 2. FULL DIGITAL IMPLEMENTATION. The full digital implementation is of the Portable ground equipment and processing facility. So, the results are expected to be repeatable . This is a very big improvement over the Analog circuitry such as the Analog PLLs used for carrier- phase tracking loop. In addition, the digital implementation removes the need for periodic hardware calibration that a ccompanies the analog circuits 3. BATCH MODE PROCESSING This type of processing allows hardware to operate with software like flexibility. As the pure software system was too slow, hardware that is fully configurable under software control implemented the most computing intensive portions of the process such as signal correlation, generation of local code and carrier signal mixing. It is possible to acquire the signal with virtually no acquisition delay by conducting extensiv e searches with initial batch of data until all the signals are found. -26DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER ENGG GOVT.W .P.T.C.NEDUPUZHA

SEMINAR REPORT 2008-09 SATRACK 4. FLEXIBLE ARCHITECTURE RECEIVER The batch mode processing has been applied to stand alone real time capable receiver called FAR. It retains the essence of bat ch mode architecture. While maintaining the capability to process the data in re al time. FAR is a single channel L1 C/A only receiver with a front-end data stor age memory that buffers unto one s of data. It can track up to 16 satellites in real time without any loss from channel multiplexing CONCLUSION SATRACK is a significant contributor to the successful development of and operat ional success of the trident weapons system. It provides a unique monitoring fun ction that is critical to the maintenance of strategic weapons systems. The deve lopment and research leading up to this technology has been instrumental in brin ging out the latest in GPS receiver, translators, data recorders etc. Several sp ecial tests have been conducted with various combinations of inertial systems, G PS receivers, translators as well as RF/antenna designs. Special tests have demo nstrated that accuracy may be achieved to support potential new and extremely de manding tactical strike scenarios. The development of -27DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER ENGG GOVT.W .P.T.C.NEDUPUZHA

SEMINAR REPORT 2008-09 SATRACK SATRACK looks forward to the implementation of the Low Cost Missile Test Kit. [L CTMK]. One other main development from this technology was the development of so phisticated tools for optimal target patterning. Instrumentation, analytic metho ds, and modelling and the use of limited and expensive flight tests assets were also born out of the SATRACK research. REFERENCES Marc Camacho and Sung Lim:SATRACK tests missile pp: 37accuracy, IEEE Instrumentation and Measurement 45 June 2003 D. R. Coleman and L.S. Simkins,The fleet ballistic missile accuracy evaluation program, Johns Hopkins APL Tech Digest pp 393-397 1998 Vol.19 No.4 -28DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER ENGG GOVT.W .P.T.C.NEDUPUZHA

SEMINAR REPORT 2008-09 SATRACK T.Thompson, L.J.Levy, and E.Westerfield, The SATRACK system: Development and applications, Johns Hopkins APL Tech Digest Vol.19 No.4 p p 436-446 1998 David .E. Mosher, Ballistic missile defence,IEEE Spectrum pp29-39 September 1997 Shneydor N. A ,Missile guidance and Pursuit,Herwood Publishers pp 1-3,47-48 1998 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I extend my sincere gratitude towards Mrs.Seena.I.T, Head of Department, Govt.Wo mens Polytechnic, Nedupuzha, Thrissur for giving us her invaluable knowledge and wonderful technical guidance. I express my thanks to Mrs.Seena.I.T, our seminar coordinator and other lecturers of the Computer Department, -29DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER ENGG GOVT.W .P.T.C.NEDUPUZHA

SEMINAR REPORT 2008-09 SATRACK Govt.Womens Polytechnic, Nedupuzha, Thrissur for their kind co-operation guidance for preparing and presenting this seminar. I also thank all the other faculty m embers of Computer Department and my friends for their help and support. RESMI.K -30DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER ENGG GOVT.W .P.T.C.NEDUPUZHA

SEMINAR REPORT 2008-09 SATRACK

CONTENTS INTRODUCTION GPS SIGNALS SATRACK CONCEPT GPS TRANSLATOR FIELD SUP PORTABLE GROUND EQUIPMENT DATA RECORDING AND POSTFLIGHT PROCESSING EVOLUTION OF SATRACK MAJOR BREAKTHROUGHS ADVANTANGES DISADVANTAGES FUTURE DIRECTIONS CONCLUSI ON REFERENCES -31DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER ENGG GOVT.W .P.T.C.NEDUPUZHA

SEMINAR REPORT 2008-09 SATRACK ABSTRACT The origin of the missile can be traced back to the roman war machine the catapu lt. The guided missile was born when Werner Von Siemens suggested a guide torped o for submarines in the late 19th century. From these beginnings the present day trident and tomahawk are guided from the skies using the GPS signals. This semi nar the records deals missile and with tracks the the measurement SATRACK concep t that tests accuracy. receives, rebroadcast, satellite signals sent by the GPS signals. The reception and rebroadcast of the signals is done by a missile hardware called the GPS translator. The ground tele metry stations consist of the RF antenna and recorders for the data. Post-flight processing and modelling are done later at the SATRACK Facility. Also the major error contributors to the missile flight are determined by the modelling done. There is extensive use of simulated signals in this method. This seminar also th rows light on the major breakthrough technologies that were developed during the research leading up to the final form of this technology. The major advantages, disadvantages and future applications of this method are also discussed. This g uidance system evaluation concept is the best in the current test and evaluation technology for guided weapons systems. -32DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER ENGG GOVT.W .P.T.C.NEDUPUZHA

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SEMINAR REPORT 2008-09 SATRACK -34DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER ENGG GOVT.W .P.T.C.NEDUPUZHA