Quaternion–Based Attitude Estimation of Ship with Low–Cost Sensors Normalized Acceleration Vectors

Taisei Hayashi, Daisuke Terada

Peer Reviewed

Abstract:	Many previous studies on quaternion-based attitude estimation employing an inertial measurement unit (IMU) utilized a rotation matrix based on Euler angles during computation. In the context of low–cost sensors characterized by low signal–to–noise ratios, the reliability of the attitude estimation is compromised due to the predominance of noise during small motions. This paper proposes a novel method for estimating attitude by utilizing the dot product and cross product between the accelerometer signal and the reference attitude vector, which is determined on a compact 3–axis turntable that was made by ourself, to estimate a quaternion to attitude. The method was verified through free–running model ship experiments in waves. The attitude estimation utilizing the proposed method was confirmed to yield results generally consistent with those output by a commercially available IMU. This result is attributed to the avoidance of utilizing rotation matrix based on Euler angles in the calculation process and the effectiveness of eliminating offset error and scale error from the acceleration signals.
Published in:	Proceedings of the ION 2026 Pacific PNT Meeting April 13 - 16, 2026 Hilton Waikiki Beach Honolulu, Hawaii
Pages:	439 - 453
Cite this article:	Hayashi, Taisei, Terada, Daisuke, "Quaternion–Based Attitude Estimation of Ship with Low–Cost Sensors Normalized Acceleration Vectors," Proceedings of the ION 2026 Pacific PNT Meeting, Honolulu, Hawaii, April 2026, pp. 439-453. https://doi.org/10.33012/2026.20577
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