ANTS2
Project goals
The goals of the project are clearly defined among the participating institutes and should be demonstrated at the end of the project altogether simultaneously.
- Guidance
- Investigating the maximum tolerable and allowable flight technical error in the lateral, along-track, and altitude directions. Summing up the flight technical error and the navigation sensor error results in a 4-dimensional required navigation performance protection area along a given flight segment.
- Developing an upscaling model for a generic VTOL (Vertical Take-Off and Landing), to determine how physical parameters, such as moment of inertia and rolling rate, affect the manoeuvrability and performance of VTOLs, thereby changing the minimum safety volume around the vehicle.
- Visual Navigation Integrity
- The purpose is to develop methods for ensuring the integrity of visual navigation. Building on previous results obtained in the ANTS project, the work will further investigate marker design, visibility and detectability problems, and the possible use of infrared cameras. Additionally, a thorough technical analysis conducted in ANTS revealed multiple areas to be investigated regarding the applicability of the integrity concept in camera-based navigation. Lastly, improvements to the previously developed SEC-PnP algorithm will be made from both a software and computational perspective.
- U-GBAS Integrit
- The goal is to develop an advanced Urban-GBAS (Ground Based Augmentation System). The U-GBAS targets providing high-accuracy local augmentation with integrity information and a simple setup procedure in urban areas. The U-GBAS is more advanced than state-of-the-art, standardized GBAS systems in several ways. First, the U-GBAS provides local augmentation and integrity information for carrier-phase-based, high-accuracy positioning. Second, it aims to facilitate the setup of a local reference network in urban areas, e.g., at vertiports or on the rooftops of tall buildings, based on the portable station developments from earlier projects by the Institute of Communications and Navigation.
- Demonstration
- The objective is to validate and demonstrate the developed technologies by conducting flight tests with UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles). The technologies to be developed and investigated further in the ANTS2 project – i.e., RNP-based guidance concepts, integrity-oriented visual navigation methods, and U-GBAS – are innovative, cutting-edge methodologies. Therefore, for safety considerations, the designed algorithms will be tested using small UAVs in controlled environments.
Contribution to electric flight
Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) offers efficient and sustainable modes of electric transportation. However, within the aviation sector, the certification of new navigation and guidance systems is often a lengthy process. The ANTS2 project aims to accelerate this timeline by delivering an initial proof of concept that demonstrates high accuracy alongside safety standards.
Summary
Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) for the transport of goods and people has attracted a lot of attention in recent years. The high flexibility of this transport method opens up new possibilities and could make a significant contribution to changing current urban transport modes. However, it also poses a major challenge, as the urban environment is confronted with various sources of interference, e.g. GNSS signal blockage and multipath effects. GNSS broadcast signal illuminates all objects in the vicinity of the GNSS receiver in addition to the receiver itself. Inevitably, the signal received by the GNSS receiver will contain two components; direct line of sight signal, and signal reflected from nearby objects. The reflected signal causes distortion to the direct line of sight signal and leads to tracking errors in the receiver. The error caused by the reflected signal is called multipath effect. Therefore, it is not possible to transfer the regulations and technologies from the traditional transport aircraft segment to this new type of operation.
The ANTS2 project aims at deepening and broadening the knowledge gained from the first ANTS project in areas of visual navigation, ground-based GNSS augmentation stations, and onboard guidance algorithms. The technologies developed were tested on UAVs in a final demonstration event held at the National Experimental Test Centre for Unmanned Aerial Systems in Cochstedt. The results collected during the simulations and flight tests have inspired the expansion on navigation and guidance techniques for the ANTS2 project so that the technologies developed are modular and thus transferable to different platforms.
Contact
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Michael Meurer
Projektdaten | |
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Term | 01/2026–12/2027 |
In participation of | |
In participation of | RWTH Aachen University, Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology |