Inertial Labs unveils visual-aided inertial navigation system for GPS-denied environments

Inertial Labs, a VIAVI Solutions company, has introduced its Visual-Aided Inertial Navigation System (VINS), designed to help aircraft maintain accurate flight paths in environments where GPS/GNSS signals are unreliable.

The launch follows a report from the U.S. Department of Transportation noting a rise in GPS jamming and spoofing incidents across North America and much of Western Europe. These disruptions, which now reach up to 700 cases worldwide each day, impact both commercial and military operations. War zones have seen the highest concentration of interference, with Lithuanian airspace alone recording more than 800 cases in the last three months of 2024. Communications and emergency services, which depend on precise timing and geolocation, are also affected.

VINS is engineered for unmanned aerial vehicles to complete long-range missions in GNSS-challenged environments. The system leverages Maxar Raptor 3D vision-based positioning software, which estimates a vehicle’s absolute 3D position by comparing onboard camera imagery — day or infrared —with Maxar Precision3D satellite-derived maps using Perspective and Point principles.

In GNSS-denied conditions, VINS can maintain a horizontal position within 35 m, a vertical position within 5 m, and velocity within 0.9 m per second of true values. It also holds heading accuracy within 1° and pitch/roll within 0.1°. With GNSS enabled, the system achieves a horizontal position of 1 meter, vertical position under 2 m, velocity accuracy of 0.03 m per second, heading within 0.1 °, and pitch/roll within 0.03°.

The modular system is designed for low-altitude operation and includes processing and sensor modules, a GNSS or CRPA antenna, an air-data computer, and a digital windspeed sensor for use with both fixed-wing and multi-rotor UAVs. Optional features include a commercial off-the-shelf radio for data and absolute positioning in GPS-denied environments, as well as Iridium low-earth orbit (LEO) GNSS and M-Code/SAASM GNSS receivers.

Inertial Labs and VIAVI will demonstrate VINS and the second-generation RSR Transcoder with GPS full constellation simulator at the 2025 Joint Navigation Conference (JNC), held June 2-5 in the Greater Cincinnati area. The products will be on display at the Inertial Labs (booth 430) and VIAVI (booth 406) stands.

VIAVI and its Inertial Labs division will also present three sessions at the conference:

• “3D Vision-Based Positioning for Autonomous Aerial Platform Navigation and Human-in-the-Loop Reconnaissance Mission,” presented with Maxar, Monday, June 2 at 1:50 p.m. ET.
• “Anti-Jam/Spoof Phased Array Antenna,” Wednesday, June 4 at 10:50 a.m. ET.
• “Retrofitting At-Risk GPS Defense Equipment with a Multi-Orbit LEO and GEO Clock System for Resilient PNT Services,” Wednesday, June 4 at 11:30 a.m. ET.