Multiple truth reference system and method

• US 8,949,027 B2
• Filed: 07/10/2012
• Issued: 02/03/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 07/10/2012
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Original Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Inventors: Matthews, Christopher Jay, Russell, Richard S., Jakel, Tom, Elgersma, Michael Ray
• Primary Examiner(s): CHEUNG, CALVIN K
• Application Number:
  US13/545,220
• Publication Number:
  US 20140019046A1
• Time in Patent Office: 938 Days
• Field of Search: 701/534, 701/535
• US Class Current: 701/534
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 17/38 Testing, calibrating, or compensating of compasses
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/28 with correlation of data from several navigational instruments
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 25/00 Manufacturing, calibrating, cleaning, or repairing instruments or devices referred to in the other groups of this subclass testing, calibrating or compensating compasses G01C17/38

Abstract

A system comprises a plurality of reference navigation systems, each reference navigation system configured to generate a respective reference navigation solution. The system also comprises a test navigation system, the test navigation system configured to generate a test navigation solution; and a processing unit configured to compare the test navigation solution to each of the respective reference navigation solutions to estimate one or more errors in the differences between the test navigation solution and the respective reference navigation solutions. The processing unit is further configured to update the respective reference navigation solutions to account for the corresponding one or more estimated errors. The processing unit is also configured to compare the test navigation solution to the updated reference navigation solutions to generate a performance score representative of the performance of the test navigation system.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a plurality of reference navigation systems, each reference navigation system configured to generate a respective reference navigation solution;

a test navigation system, the test navigation system configured to generate a test navigation solution; and

a processing unit configured to compare the test navigation solution to each of the respective reference navigation solutions to estimate one or more errors in the differences between the test navigation solution and the respective reference navigation solutions;

wherein the processing unit is further configured to update the respective reference navigation solutions to account for the corresponding one or more estimated errors;

wherein the processing unit is configured to compare the test navigation solution to the updated reference navigation solutions to generate a performance score representative of the performance of the test navigation system.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein one of the plurality of reference navigation systems and the test navigation system are each implemented as a first type of navigation system.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the processing unit is further configured to generate a composite reference navigation solution based on each of the respective reference navigation solutions from the plurality of reference navigation systems;

wherein the processing unit is configured to generate the performance score representative of the performance of the test navigation solution based on a comparison of the test navigation solution to the composite reference navigation solution.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of reference navigation systems comprises three reference navigation systems.

5. The system of claim 1, further comprising an output device, the processing unit configured to output the performance score to the output device.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more errors comprise at least one of a lever arm error, misalignment error, or time skew error.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the processing unit is configured to process the test navigation solution as a reference navigation solution and to select one of the reference navigation solutions from the plurality of reference navigation systems for processing as a test navigation solution.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the processing unit is configured to compare each respective reference navigation solution to the other reference navigation solutions to determine integrity of each of the respective reference navigation solutions.

9. A program product comprising a non-transitory processor-readable medium on which program instructions are embodied, wherein the program instructions are configured, when executed by at least one programmable processor, to cause the at least one programmable processor to:

compare a first navigation solution received from a first navigation system with a plurality of other navigation solutions, each of the other navigation solutions received from a respective other navigation system;

estimate one or more errors based on the comparison of the first navigation solution to the plurality of other navigation solutions;

modify the plurality of other navigation solutions based on the estimated one or more errors;

compare the first navigation solution to the plurality of modified other navigation solutions to generate a performance score of the first navigation system; and

output the performance score to an output device.

10. The program product of claim 9, wherein the program instructions are further configured to cause the at least one programmable processor to generate a composite navigation solution based on the plurality of other navigation solutions and to compare the first navigation solution to the composite navigation solution when generating the performance score.

11. The program product of claim 9, wherein the program instructions are further configured to cause the at least one programmable processor to estimate one or more of a lever arm error, misalignment error, or time skew error based on the comparison of the first navigation solution to the plurality of other navigation solutions.

12. The program product of claim 11, wherein the program instructions are further configured to cause the at least one programmable processor to estimate a respective time skew error for each navigation state of the first navigation solution.

13. The program product of claim 9, wherein the program instructions are further configured to cause the at least one programmable processor to compare the plurality of other navigation solutions to one another to determine the integrity of each of the plurality of other navigation systems.

14. The program product of claim 13, wherein the program instructions are further configured to cause the at least one programmable processor to output an indication of the integrity of each of the other navigation systems.

15. The program product of claim 9, wherein the program instructions are further configured to cause the at least one programmable processor to output instructions to the output device to cause the output device to display a graph representative of the one or more estimated errors.

16. A method of assessing performance of a test navigation system in a reference system having a plurality of reference navigation systems, the method comprising:

receiving a respective navigation solution from each of a plurality of navigation systems, a first navigation system of the plurality of navigation systems selected as the test navigation system and the other navigation systems of the plurality of navigation systems selected as the reference navigation systems, the plurality of navigation systems comprising more than three navigation systems;

comparing the navigation solution from the selected test navigation system with the respective navigation solution from each of the plurality of reference navigation systems to identify one or more errors in differences between the navigation solution from the selected test navigation system and the respective navigation solution from each of the plurality of reference navigation systems;

updating the respective navigation solution from each of the plurality of reference navigation systems to adjust for corresponding errors identified by comparing the navigation solution from the selected test navigation system with the respective navigation solution from each of the plurality of reference navigation systems; and

comparing the navigation solution from the selected test navigation system with the updated navigation solutions from each of the plurality of reference navigation systems to generate a performance score indicative of the performance of the test navigation system.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

generating a composite navigation solution based on a combination of the respective navigation solutions from the plurality of reference navigation systems; and

comparing the navigation solution from the selected test navigation system to the composite navigation solution to generate the performance score.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

comparing the respective navigation solution from each of the plurality of reference navigation systems to the composite navigation solution to determine the integrity of the composite navigation solution.

19. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

comparing the respective navigation solution from each of the plurality of reference navigation systems to each other to determine the integrity of each of the plurality of reference navigation systems.

20. The method of claim 16, further comprising selecting one of the plurality of navigation systems other than the first navigation system as the test navigation system and selecting the first navigation system as a reference navigation system.