GNSS ULTRA-SHORT BASELINE HEADING DETERMINATION SYSTEM AND METHOD

• US 20120218143A1
• Filed: 03/06/2012
• Published: 08/30/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 09/21/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Appareo Systems LLC (AGCO Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Appareo Systems LLC (AGCO Corporation)
• Inventors: Zietz, John M., Allen, Robert M., Weinmann, Robert V.
• Granted Patent: US 8,471,762 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 342/357.3
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2018/206 the laser light passing along a liquid-filled conduit
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/165 combined with non-inertial navigation instruments
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/35 Constructional details or hardware or software details of the signal processing chain
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/55 Carrier phase ambiguity resolution; Floating ambiguity; LAMBDA [Least-squares AMBiguity Decorrelation Adjustment] method

Abstract

A heading determination system comprises an inertial measurement unit (IMU) coupled with at least two GNSS receivers, each receiver paired with and receiving signals from a corresponding GNSS antenna, wherein the GNSS antennas are separated by an ultra-short baseline. The heading determination system receives signals broadcast by a plurality of GNSS satellites and calculates the phase difference in the signal seen among the separate GNSS antennas. Using this phase difference information, derived from comparing the signals received from a plurality of GNSS satellites, along with attitude data generated by the IMU, the heading determination system calculates a highly-accurate heading solution. A method is provided for determining a heading of a system including an IMU coupled with at least two GNSS receivers, with each receiver being paired with and receiving signals from a corresponding GNSS antenna and the antennas being separated by an ultra-short baseline.

Claims

1. A heading determination comprising:

an inertial measurement unit (IMU) adapted for detecting a magnitude and a direction of movement of the system about an axis of rotation and providing an output signal corresponding to said movement magnitude and direction;

at least two GNSS receivers each providing an output comprising GNSS ranging signals;

at least two GNSS antennas each attached to a respective GNSS receiver;

each GNSS antenna having a baseline separation from every other GNSS antenna that is no more than 0.5 meters; and

a processor connected to said IMU and said receivers, wherein the processor receives output data from the IMU and GNSS receivers and uses said output data to calculate a heading of the heading determination system.