746th Test Squadron Spins Up Jamfest ‘09 - Inside GNSS - Global Navigation Satellite Systems Engineering, Policy, and Design

746th Test Squadron Spins Up Jamfest ‘09

Stallion Range Center, White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico, site of JAMFEST exercises

The 746th Test Squadron (746 TS) will offer authorized GPS users another in its series of JAMFEST training scenarios November 2–6 at at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico.

Introduced in May 2004, JAMFEST provides a realistic GPS jamming environment for testing GPS-based navigation systems. Since its inception, JAMFEST has hosted a diverse customer base, including multi-service Department of Defense (DoD) groups, defense contractors, and civil organizations with objectives ranging from training personnel in GPS-denied or –degraded conditions to characterizing the performance of prototype advanced anti-jam technologies against operationally realistic threats.

The 746th Test Squadron (746 TS) will offer authorized GPS users another in its series of JAMFEST training scenarios November 2–6 at at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico.

Introduced in May 2004, JAMFEST provides a realistic GPS jamming environment for testing GPS-based navigation systems. Since its inception, JAMFEST has hosted a diverse customer base, including multi-service Department of Defense (DoD) groups, defense contractors, and civil organizations with objectives ranging from training personnel in GPS-denied or –degraded conditions to characterizing the performance of prototype advanced anti-jam technologies against operationally realistic threats.

The 746 TS and Central Inertial and GPS Test Facility (CIGTF) is located on Holloman Air Force Base, adjacent to the White Sands Missile Range (WSMR) in southern New Mexico, near Alamogordo. JAMFEST ‘09 will be conducted out of Stallion Air Field in northern WSMR, near Socorro.

The test scenarios offer multiple-site configurations and “laydowns,” including a gauntlet configuration. Transmission of various forms of RF noise, bi-phase skip keying, and a mix of waveforms at low, medium, and high power levels on L1 and L2 frequencies.

The 746 TS’s fully instrumented aircraft include the AT-38, C-12J, and UH-1 that can be used to provide a range of dynamic operating environments for systems under test. According to the 746 TS, each platform is fully instrumented for data acquisition and capable of hosting virtually any combination of GPS, inertial navigation (INS), or integrated GPS/INS navigation and guidance systems.

For organizations needing ground vehicle transportation for their equipment during tests, the squadron offers Small Test Vehicles (STVs) or Large Test Vehicles (LTVs).

The STV is a specialized testbed that can be modified for a broad range of antenna configurations — holding up to three controlled reception pattern antennas and fixed reception pattern antennas — and can supply electrical power to most test items. This vehicle can accommodate test aircraft racks and has the capability of carrying a configuration of three pallets and three operator seats.

The LTV is a vehicle specifically equipped for land navigation testing and has a 20-KVA generator to supply the electrical power to the environmentally controlled cab and test items with a variety of power requirements. This vehicle provides ample space for the simultaneous testing of several test items and can accommodate up to six aircraft racks with operator seats.

The 746 TS provides customers with detailed analysis of GPS and vulnerability test data gained during JAMFEST exercises, with quantitative results used as input to technical reports and data packages.

It offers time space position information (TSPI) truth reference systems, configurable to meet customer requirements on test vans, helicopters, and test bed aircraft. These include the CIGTF Reference System (CRS), which records ith 3D position and velocity accuracies as good as 0.35 meters and 0.010 meter/second, respectively

The 746 TS’s SAASM Integrated System Evaluator and Report (SAASM-ISER) is a mobile laboratory asset that performs end-to-end functional tests on weapon systems with integrated SAASM-based receivers within the platform and/or its munitions.

, the SAASM-ISER generates appropriate GPS signals and collects navigation data from a weapon system platform. It then verifies the fidelity of the SAASM functions and the data transferred from a stand-alone or embedded GPS receiver to other system components.

As a result, the system provides a real-time functionality assessment of a platform at the receiver, the cockpit, and/or a weapons pylon. Additionally, SAASM-ISER provides a means to conduct SAASM anomaly investigation and resolution regardless of on-orbit signal status.

For more information on JAMFEST or 746 TS capabilities, contact: 746th Test Squadron, telephone (toll-free): 866-256-7878 or 575-679-1668; e-mail <gpstest@holloman.af.mil>.

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