Each year, the Dayton Section of the Institute of Navigation (ION) presents one AFIT graduate with the Navigation Research Excellence award; an honor given to the author of a thesis which is judged to make the most significant research contributions in a navigation-related field. Recently, this prestigious award was presented to 1Lt Keith LeBlanc for his research into the image-aided satellite navigation problem.

Working within the Advanced Navigation Technology (ANT) Center, 1Lt LeBlanc demonstrated a strong work ethic and extreme technical competence by maintaining a 3.92 GPA throughout the MS program. 1Lt LeBlanc’s thesis, Satellite-based Fusion of Imaging Sensors and Georegistered Map Data for Precise Geolocation and Target Tracking, was deemed “outstanding” by his committee, earning a unanimous “A” from all members. Lt Col Michael Veth, 1Lt LeBlanc’s advisor and thesis committee chair, praised the technical contribution of LeBlanc’s research, saying “(he) demonstrated an outstanding degree of resourcefulness and originality, bringing navigation, estimation, and computer vision processing theories together to introduce a new solution to a very challenging navigation and targeting problem, with obvious real-world mission impact.”

Research Motivation:
Earth-imaging satellites often rely on complex onboard navigation systems, with dependence on Global Positioning System (GPS) tracking and/or continuous post capture georegistration, to accurately geolocate ground targets of interest. Unfortunately, these satellite systems are often susceptible to poor or unavailable target tracking capabilities in GPS-denied environments. The motivation of 1Lt LeBlanc’s research was to address the limitations of the current geolocation process by fusing imaging sensors and georegistered map data as a means of autonomously tracking ground targets.

Research Impact:
Through the development of a new, tightly-coupled robust tracking algorithm, 1Lt LeBlanc’s research improved the baseline geolocation solution by over an order of magnitude. In addition, the developed image-aided geolocation algorithm is not dependent on external systems or human interaction and is capable of being implemented in a real-time environment where it is necessary to accurately locate a ground target of interest and autonomously track that target over an extended period of time. Read the full technical abstract here.

As winner of the 2010 ION Navigation Research Excellence award, Lt LeBlanc also received an automobile GPS receiver and a US Savings Bond.

Past Award Winners:
2009: Capt William Storms, Magnetic Field Aided Indoor Navigation
2008: Capt Michael Nielson, Development and Flight Test of a Robust Optical-Inertial Navigation System Using Low-Cost Sensors