Enhanced Link Navigation System prototype completes flight test
NewsJuly 11, 2018
PATUXENT RIVER, Md. L3 Technologies and CTSi engineers completed flight-testing of the Enhanced Link Navigation System (ELNS), an integrated communication and navigation system for use in highly contested and GPS-denied environments.
The prototype was built under a Navy $8.7 million Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) Phase III contract and flight tested at the St. Mary’s County Regional Airport near Patuxent River, Maryland.
“Our team put ELNS in the air in less than 18 months. It worked the first time and every time during 15 flights which included 152 approaches,” says Ian Gallimore, CTSi Chief Technology Officer.
He went on to say that ELNS provided area navigation to replace GPS at ranges in excess of 50 nautical miles all the way through landing.
Martin King, Navy Project Manager, added “ELNS is scalable for unmanned aircraft in all Groups, from those needing high integrity like MQ-25, to small unmanned aircraft on tight weight budgets. ELNS is the first system to bring GPS-denied navigation capability to small UAS. By combining significant investments in related fields to create a whole new capability like this, ELNS takes Position, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) for air vehicles in a compelling new direction.”
ELNS utilizes L3 Technologies’ waveforms that defeat adversary strategies to detect and disrupt allied signals, using waveforms that are essential in communications-denied and GPS-denied environments.
