Integrated GPS/IMU attitude sensing arrangement with alignment angle estimation

摘要

An integrated GPS/IMU attitude sensing arrangement is disclosed for determining the attitude of a mobile unit and reliably estimating an alignment angle between a GPS antenna coordinate system and an IMU coordinate system regardless of the magnitude of the alignment angle. Based on observation of the difference between a GPS angular velocity and an IMU angular velocity, an alignment angle estimating section 106 estimates alignment angle and sensor errors. An alignment angle adder 107 and a sensor error adder 108 cumulatively add and update the estimated angle and sensor errors respectively. The estimated angle is fed back to an inertia data converter 103 while the estimated sensor errors are fed back to an inertia data correcting section 102. The arrangement repeatedly performs estimation until the estimated angle gradually approaches a true alignment angle by successively feeding back estimated values for use in the alignment angle estimation process.