2024 Taipei Section Chapter Events

Dr. Greg Droge

On 13 March 2024, the Systems Council Taipei Section Chapter through the Noble School hosted a distinguished lecture by Dr. Greg Droge from Utah State University (IEEE Member), who delivered an insightful seminar at National Chung Hsing University on "Path Planning in GPS-Limited Areas while Avoiding Ground-Based Radar Detection. In this enlightening talk, Dr. Droge shared his valuable insights and research findings on path-planning strategies in areas where GPS signals are limited while also addressing challenges related to ground-based radar detection. Dr. Droge discussed a novel framework that integrates uncertainty in aircraft and radar positions and parameters into the path-planning process. Utilizing linear covariance techniques, his approach effectively evaluates path segments and generates error budgets to manage uncertainty growth. This methodology enhances traditional path-planning methods by incorporating detection risk bounds, thus providing mission planners with actionable data to optimize flight paths and minimize detection risks. 

Path Planning in GPS Limited Areas While Avoiding Ground-based Radar Detection Mission planners for aircraft operating under threat of detection by ground-based radar systems are concerned with the probability of detection. Current path planning methods for such scenarios consider the aircraft pose, radar position, and radar parameters to be deterministic and known. However, aircraft and radar pose and parameters can have a significant impact on the probability of detection when combined with weak or non-existent GPS signals. The presentation discussed a framework for incorporating uncertainty in these quantities that can be used by a path planner. Linear covariance techniques are used to efficiently evaluate path segments during planning as well as to generate error budgets for uncertainty growth attribution. The uncertainty propagation framework is combined with established path planning approaches to incorporate bounds on detection risk into the planning process. The results show that the frame-work is effective at providing actionable information to the mission planner that improves the final planned path and reduces the detection risk. The seminar highlighted significant advancements in navigation technology and its critical applications in defense and surveillance operations.