UCI's Trusov gets $6 million to develop technology superior to GPS

Alexander Trusov, project scientist in the Department of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering, has been awarded $6 million by the federal Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to create technology that could replace GPS devices. Widely used by the military and civilians, GPS can be easily jammed and is not available underwater or in buildings, forests or caves. Trusov’s technology would be an improvement because it would not require any external signals, instead relying on so-called inertial sensors. Because of this fundamental advantage, it would resist jamming and work nearly everywhere. The project, entitled “Self-Calibrating Inertial MEMS,” is a collaboration between Trusov, UCI engineering professor William Tang and David Rozelle of Northrop Grumman Guidance & Electronics Co. Inc. “I am very excited about this challenging program and am looking forward to advancing state-of-the-art inertial MEMS technology and expanding the inertial MEMS research program at the UCI MicroSystems Lab,” Trusov said.