Enhancing Gyrocompassing Performance Using Low-Cost Optical Sensors

M.J. Veth

Abstract:	Many applications require automatic and accurate determination of true north. While this can be accomplished in a number of ways, gyrocompassing (i.e., determining the orientation of the sensor by observing the rotation of the Earth) is a popular technique for tactical applications due to the high accuracy possible and the inherent immunity to external electromagnetic disturbances. Unfortunately, accurately detecting the Earth’s rotation rate requires a relatively high-performance gyroscope with well-calibrated error characteristics. This results in an engineering trade between alignment time, accuracy, and cost. In this paper, a completely passive, lightweight gyrocompassing sensor is proposed that combines a low-cost optical sensor and automatic feature tracking techniques with a low-to-medium performance triad of gyroscopes using an unscented Kalman filter algorithm. The approach is validated using a non-linear Monte Carlo simulation and conclusions are drawn regarding improvements in gyrocompassing performance as a function of sensor error characteristics and environmental conditions.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 26th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GNSS+ 2013) September 16 - 20, 2013 Nashville Convention Center, Nashville, Tennessee Nashville, TN
Pages:	47 - 55
Cite this article:	Veth, M.J., "Enhancing Gyrocompassing Performance Using Low-Cost Optical Sensors," Proceedings of the 26th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GNSS+ 2013), Nashville, TN, September 2013, pp. 47-55.
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