One of the main challenges in the development of vehicle autonomy is the availability of a sensor system for direction and navigation. Various sensors to support the spacecraft's mission will be tested and integrated into the system. An Extended Kalman Filtering scheme will be developed to integrate the sizes of the different sensors. As a measure of increasing national competitiveness, research efforts will also be focused on developing independent air vehicle sensors.

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The communication system on unmanned aerial vehicles presents a formidable challenge considering the communication distance is already over 20,000 ft. The current major approach to transmission over the air medium involves the use of air waves of large wavelength or low frequency. The research activity will examine tested air vehicle communication systems.