A personnel location and monitoring system enables on-scene commanders in austere environments to identify, location and manage personnel. The present invention establishes a localized network of geolocation-capable transceivers which can thereafter provide communication capabilities with specially-equipped users as they ingress and egress an austere environment. Each user is equipped with an Individual Geospatial Locational Unit which provides data via a datalink with one or more of the anchors, and ultimately with a base station. From such data and the datalink itself the location of the user as well as the user's biomedical condition can be ascertained. As confidence of the location of the user drops below a predetermined threshold and/or the biomedical condition of the user raises concern with respect to the user's well-being, the present invention modifies the communication and geolocation protocols to prioritize communication and data transfer with such a user.

A personnel location and monitoring system enables on-scene commanders in austere environments to identify, location and manage personnel. The present invention establishes a localized network of geolocation-capable transceivers which can thereafter provide communication capabilities with specially-equipped users as they ingress and egress an austere environment. Each user is equipped with an Individual Geospatial Locational Unit which provides data via a datalink with one or more of the anchors, and ultimately with a base station. From such data and the datalink itself the location of the user as well as the user's biomedical condition can be ascertained. As confidence of the location of the user drops below a predetermined threshold and/or the biomedical condition of the user raises concern with respect to the user's well-being, the present invention modifies the communication and geolocation protocols to prioritize communication and data transfer with such a user.

Navigation device including an inertial navigation system coupled with a satellite navigation system, the information supplied by the satellite positioning system being used for adjusting the inertial navigation system, characterised in that the device further comprises means for measuring signals coming from base stations of a wireless cellular network, the satellite navigation system and the means for measuring signals coming from base stations of the wireless cellular network are coupled with each other by a tight coupling to form a satellite navigator and/or base-station navigator implementing an estimator with simultaneous localisation and mapping, and in that the satellite navigation system and the means for measuring signals coming from base stations of the wireless cellular network are coupled to the inertial navigation system by a loose coupling for adjusting the inertial navigation system.

Navigation device including an inertial navigation system coupled with a satellite navigation system, the information supplied by the satellite positioning system being used for adjusting the inertial navigation system, characterised in that the device further comprises means for measuring signals coming from base stations of a wireless cellular network, the satellite navigation system and the means for measuring signals coming from base stations of the wireless cellular network are coupled with each other by a tight coupling to form a satellite navigator and/or base-station navigator implementing an estimator with simultaneous localisation and mapping, and in that the satellite navigation system and the means for measuring signals coming from base stations of the wireless cellular network are coupled to the inertial navigation system by a loose coupling for adjusting the inertial navigation system.

Devices, systems, and methods for sending positional information from transmitters/beacons. In one implementation a transmitter generates a range block including a ranging signal and a hybrid block including positioning data, and sends the range block and hybrid block at different times. A user device may receive signals from a plurality of transmitters and generates position/location information using trilateration and measured altitude information in comparison with transmitter altitude information.

Devices, systems, and methods for sending positional information from transmitters/beacons. In one implementation a transmitter generates a range block including a ranging signal and a hybrid block including positioning data, and sends the range block and hybrid block at different times. A user device may receive signals from a plurality of transmitters and generates position/location information using trilateration and measured altitude information in comparison with transmitter altitude information.

Disclosed in some examples are methods, systems, devices, and machine-readable mediums for providing a PNT system provided by stratospheric balloons. This stratospheric PNT system (SPNTS) replaces the space-segment of a standard PNTS with a stratospheric segment comprising one or more stratospheric balloons that provide PNTS signals usable to determine timing, positioning, and/or navigation for user devices.

Disclosed in some examples are methods, systems, devices, and machine-readable mediums for providing a PNT system provided by stratospheric balloons. This stratospheric PNT system (SPNTS) replaces the space-segment of a standard PNTS with a stratospheric segment comprising one or more stratospheric balloons that provide PNTS signals usable to determine timing, positioning, and/or navigation for user devices.

A device implementing a system for device orientation initialization includes at least one processor configured to determine that the device is within or coupled to a vehicle in motion. The at least one processor is configured to employ, in response to the determining, a first position estimation model to estimate a position of the device, and detect occurrence of a predefined condition with respect to employing the first position estimation model. The at least one processor is further configured to switch, in response to detecting occurrence of the predefined condition, from employing the first position estimation model to employing a second position estimation model to estimate the position of the device. The first and second position estimation model apply different respective error state metrics in estimating the position of the device.

A pay television satellite broadcast includes validation data that can be used to validate authenticity of live global positioning system (GPS) data. The validation data may be included within entitlement messages and encrypted for security and selective reception by authorized receivers. A navigation system may compute checksums of received live GPS data and compare with the validation data for a match. A decision about whether or not to use the live GPS data may be taken based on whether or not the computed checksums match the validation data received via the pay television satellite broadcast signals.