Attitude determination method and system
First Claim
1. A method for use in vehicle attitude determination, the method comprising the steps of:
- providing an inertial navigation system including a filter for receiving at least one or more inertial measurements for use in generating a vehicle attitude estimate;
generating GPS attitude solutions for a vehicle using three or more antennas receiving GPS signals from two or more space vehicles independent of the inertial measurements;
providing the GPS attitude solutions to the filter; and
initializing the inertial navigation system by setting the vehicle attitude estimate of the inertial navigation system to one of the GPS attitude solutions generated for the vehicle.
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Abstract
A method for use in vehicle attitude determination includes generating GPS attitude solutions for a vehicle using three or more antennas receiving GPS signals from two or more space vehicles. An inertial navigation system is initialized by setting the attitude of the inertial navigation system to a GPS attitude solution generated for the vehicle and/or the attitude of the inertial navigation system is updated using the GPS attitude solutions generated for the vehicle or GPS estimated attitude error generated for the vehicle. A system for use in vehicle navigation is also provided. The system generally includes three or more GPS antenna/receiver sets associated with a vehicle, an inertial measurement unit that provides inertial measurements for the vehicle, a processing unit of the system having the capability for generating GPS attitude computations for the vehicle using the three or more GPS antenna/receiver sets and signals from two or more space vehicles; the GPS attitude computations include at least one of absolute attitudes and estimated attitude errors. The processing unit of the system also includes a filter for generating estimates of attitude for the vehicle using the inertial measurements from the inertial measurement unit and the attitude computations.
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Citations
33 Claims
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1. A method for use in vehicle attitude determination, the method comprising the steps of:
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providing an inertial navigation system including a filter for receiving at least one or more inertial measurements for use in generating a vehicle attitude estimate; generating GPS attitude solutions for a vehicle using three or more antennas receiving GPS signals from two or more space vehicles independent of the inertial measurements; providing the GPS attitude solutions to the filter; and
initializing the inertial navigation system by setting the vehicle attitude estimate of the inertial navigation system to one of the GPS attitude solutions generated for the vehicle. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A method for use in vehicle attitude determination, the method comprising the steps of:
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providing an inertial navigation system including a filter for receiving at least one or more inertial measurements for use in generating a vehicle attitude estimate; generating GPS estimated attitude errors for a vehicle using at least three antennas receiving signals from at least two space vehicles; providing the GPS estimate attitude errors to the filter; and updating the vehicle attitude estimate of an inertial navigation system using the GPS estimated attitude errors. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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25. A system for use in vehicle navigation, the system comprising:
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three or more GPS antenna/receiver sets associated with a vehicle; an inertial measurement unit for providing inertial measurements for the vehicle; and
a processing unit, the processing unit including;GPS attitude determination means for generating attitude computations for the vehicle using the three or more GPS antenna/receiver sets and signals from two or more space vehicles, the attitude computations including at least one of GPS absolute attitudes generated independent of the inertial measurements and GPS estimated attitude errors, and filter means for receiving as inputs thereto the inertial measurements and attitude computations, wherein the filter means generates estimates of attitude for the vehicle using the inertial measurements from the inertial measurement unit and the attitude computations. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33)
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Specification