Improved GNSS Heading System with Inertial and Magnetic Field Sensors for Small-sized Launcher Applications

J. Roth, K. Kaschwich, G.F. Trommer

Abstract:	This paper addresses an integration of a single-frequency GNSS two-antenna heading system with low cost inertial and magnetic field sensors in order to improve the availability and reliability of pure GNSS attitude determination. A redundant attitude solution is calculated in an error-state Kalman filter using different sensor setups. As a result, the process of carrier phase ambiguity resolution is accelerated. The known baseline length and an estimation of the inertial yaw and pitch angles are exploited in an extension of the LAMBDA method for a significant reduction of the ambiguity search. This not only reduces the time to first fix but also yields increased reliability of the fixed ambiguities. With regard to small-sized and portable launcher applications a special focus is laid on levelled system structure and short baseline length of up to 20 cm. Measurement results demonstrate that our system enables single epoch ambiguity resolution. The existence of the precise GNSS heading information facilitates an online calibration of magnetic field sensors. In turn, a calibrated magnetic field sensor enables recovering heading information during GNSS outages without any loss of accuracy.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 2012 International Technical Meeting of The Institute of Navigation January 30 - 1, 2012 Marriott Newport Beach Hotel & Spa Newport Beach, CA
Pages:	1139 - 1147
Cite this article:	Roth, J., Kaschwich, K., Trommer, G.F., "Improved GNSS Heading System with Inertial and Magnetic Field Sensors for Small-sized Launcher Applications," Proceedings of the 2012 International Technical Meeting of The Institute of Navigation, Newport Beach, CA, January 2012, pp. 1139-1147.
Full Paper:	ION Members/Non-Members: 1 Download Credit Sign In