SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR CALIBRATING AND ADJUSTING A HEADING REFERENCE SYSTEM
First Claim
1. A system for recalibrating an aircraft attitude and reference heading system, the system comprising:
- an aircraft;
a memory;
at least one magnetometer coupled to the memory;
a processor coupled to the at least one magnetometer and memory, the processor being configured to;
obtain an actual reading from the at least one magnetometer while the aircraft is stationary and positioned along the Earth'"'"'s surface at a single known magnetic heading;
determine a theoretical reading for the at least one magnetometer at the known magnetic heading;
calculate a recalibrated magnetic gain and offset based, at least in part, on the actual reading and the theoretical reading;
utilize the recalibrated magnetic gain and offset to determine a recalibrated magnetic heading for the aircraft;
determine a misalignment value based, at least in part, on a comparison of the known magnetic heading and the recalibrated magnetic heading; and
utilize the misalignment value to adjust the heading system for misalignment errors.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Systems and methods of calibrating and adjusting for deviations in a vehicle'"'"'s heading system, such as the attitude heading and reference system of an aircraft or the heading system of a ship, positioned along the Earth'"'"'s surface involve calibrating magnetometers for hard iron and misalignment errors using single heading measurements. This can be accomplished by obtaining both actual and theoretical readings for the magnetometer of the heading system, and comparing these values to obtain calibration values for the heading system. The vehicle may be repositioned, such as to North, South, East, and west magnetic headings, with the procedure repeated at each of these headings, and the calibration values averaged, further increasing the accuracy.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A system for recalibrating an aircraft attitude and reference heading system, the system comprising:
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an aircraft; a memory; at least one magnetometer coupled to the memory; a processor coupled to the at least one magnetometer and memory, the processor being configured to; obtain an actual reading from the at least one magnetometer while the aircraft is stationary and positioned along the Earth'"'"'s surface at a single known magnetic heading; determine a theoretical reading for the at least one magnetometer at the known magnetic heading; calculate a recalibrated magnetic gain and offset based, at least in part, on the actual reading and the theoretical reading; utilize the recalibrated magnetic gain and offset to determine a recalibrated magnetic heading for the aircraft; determine a misalignment value based, at least in part, on a comparison of the known magnetic heading and the recalibrated magnetic heading; and utilize the misalignment value to adjust the heading system for misalignment errors. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. A system for recalibrating an aircraft attitude and reference heading system, the system comprising:
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an aircraft; a memory; at least magnetometer coupled to the memory; a processor coupled to the at least one magnetometer and memory, the processor being configured to; obtain a plurality of actual readings from the at least one magnetometer while the aircraft is stationary and positioned along the Earth'"'"'s surface at a plurality of corresponding known magnetic headings; determine a plurality of theoretical readings for the at least one magnetometer at the plurality of corresponding known magnetic headings based, at least in part, on a previously computed attitude value for the aircraft; calculate a recalibrated magnetic gain and offset based, at least in part, on a comparison between the actual readings and the theoretical readings; utilize the recalibrated magnetic gain and offset to determine a recalibrated magnetic heading for the aircraft and to recalibrate the heading system for measurement errors; determine a misalignment value based, at least in part, on a comparison of the known magnetic heading and the recalibrated magnetic heading; and utilize the misalignment value to adjust the heading system for misalignment errors. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A method for recalibrating an aircraft attitude and reference heading system comprising at least one magnetometer, the method comprising the steps of:
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selectively positioning an aircraft along the Earth'"'"'s surface at a single known magnetic heading; obtaining an actual reading from the at least one magnetometer at the known magnetic heading while the aircraft is stationary; determining a theoretical reading for the at least one magnetometer at the known magnetic heading; calculating a recalibrated magnetic average gain and offset based, at least in part, on the actual reading and the theoretical reading; and utilizing the recalibrated magnetic gain and offset to recalibrate the heading system for measurement errors. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A method for recalibrating an aircraft attitude and reference heading system comprising at least one magnetometer, the method comprising the steps of:
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selectively positioning an aircraft along the Earth'"'"'s surface at a single known magnetic heading; obtaining an actual reading from the at least one magnetometer at the known magnetic heading while the aircraft is stationary; determining a theoretical reading for the at least one magnetometer at the known magnetic heading; determining a misalignment value based, at least in part, on a comparison of the known magnetic heading and a magnetic heading computed from the actual readings; and utilizing the misalignment value to adjust the heading system for misalignment errors. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification