Air cushion vehicles (ACVs) have operated successfully on commercial routes for about twenty years. The routes are normally quite short; the craft are equipped with radar and radio navigation aids and maintain continu...
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Air cushion vehicles (ACVs) have operated successfully on commercial routes for about twenty years. The routes are normally quite short; the craft are equipped with radar and radio navigation aids and maintain continuous contact with their terminals. Navigation of these craft, therefore, does not present any unusual difficulty. The introduction of air cushion vehicles into military service, however, can present a very different picture, especially when external navigation aids are not available and the craft must navigate by dead reckoning. This paper considers the problems involved when navigating a high-speed air cushion vehicle by dead reckoning in conditions of poor visibility. A method is presented to assess the ACV's navigational capability under these circumstances. A figure of merit is used to determine the sensitivity of factors which affect navigation such as the range of visibility, point-to-point distance, speed, turning radius and accuracy of onboard equipment. The method provides simplistic but adequate answers and can be used effectively to compare the-capability and cost of alternative navigation concepts.
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