Abstract
Stars have been used -in what is called celestial navigation- since thousands of years by mankind. Celestial
navigation was used extensively in aviation until the 1960s, and in marine navigation until recently. It has been
investigated for agriculture applications, utilized for military aircraft and, presumably, for intercontinental ballistic missiles.
Recently the interest in celestial navigation has sparked again with an emphasis on deep space navigation using
pulsars. Pulsars are fast rotating neutron stars that emit electromagnetic radiation, which is received anywhere in our
solar system as a series of very stable fast periodic pulses. A number of studies have been performed on navigating using pulsar signals; the first study performed by NASA in 1974 focused on radio pulsars, but in later years most attention was given to X-ray pulsars. Radio pulsar navigation - utilizing signals which could be detected on Earth - has not received much attention, since the signal strength of radio pulsars was deemed too weak to be useful.
Advances in signal processing, analog/RF circuit design as well as antenna design, however, could enable faster
and more accurate detection of pulsar signals, using a smaller antenna size. The objective of this paper is to investigate the feasibility of a navigation system inside the Earth's atmosphere using signals from millisecond radio pulsars. The study is part of the research project PulsarPlane under the European 7th Framework Programme as a pioneering idea, i.e. technologies and concepts that have the potential to bring step changes in the second half of this century and beyond.
Original language | Undefined |
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Title of host publication | Proceedings of the 65th International Astronautical Congress (IAC2014) |
Place of Publication | Toronto |
Publisher | International Astronautical Federation (IAF) |
Pages | 1-10 |
Number of pages | 10 |
ISBN (Print) | not assigned |
Publication status | Published - 1 Oct 2014 |
Event | 65th International Astronautical Congress, IAC 2014 - Toronto, Canada Duration: 29 Sep 2014 → 3 Oct 2014 Conference number: 65 |
Publication series
Name | |
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Publisher | International Astronautical Federation (IAF) |
Conference
Conference | 65th International Astronautical Congress, IAC 2014 |
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Abbreviated title | IAC |
Country/Territory | Canada |
City | Toronto |
Period | 29/09/14 → 3/10/14 |
Keywords
- EWI-25633
- IR-94194
- METIS-309852