Attitude Accuracy and Repeatability Studies of C-MIGITS TM II and DQI-NP

Douglas A. Macdonald, Edward W. Stoll

Abstract:	Test results for a series of attitude accuracy and repeatability studies of the C-MIGITSä II and DQI-NP with PLGR are presented. The C-MIGITSä II is a member of the Miniature Integrated GPS/INS Tactical System (MIGITSä) family of products developed by Boeing. This low cost unit consists of a Boeing Digital Quartz Inertial Measurement Unit (DQI IMU) integrated in a tightly coupled configuration with a Rockwell Semiconductor Systems MicroTrackerä LP five channel C/A code GPS receiver. The DQI-Navigation Processor (DQI-NP) consists of a DQI with the necessary interfaces and software to be integrated in a loosely coupled configuration with a Rockwell Precision Lightweight GPS Receiver (PLGR). The C-MIGITSä II software design allows the DQI to utilize a variety of GPS receivers, in either tightly or loosely coupled configurations. C-MIGITSä II provides a low-cost, tactical-accuracy source of body axis angular orientation information for test and evaluation of vehicle dynamics as well as precision control of body positioning. A variety of applications requiring low cost precision body attitude information will benefit from the C-MIGITSä II integrated GPS/INS technology. Applications include gun pointing on stationary and mobile platforms, portable target designation systems, and instrumentation for evaluation of vehicle performance and dynamics. This paper presents some of the background describing the mechanization of computing body angles from inertial and GPS inputs, and results of the attitude accuracy testing. Data were obtained in several test environments including: (1) Van runs followed by measurement of C-MIGITSä II and DQI-NP attitude on a stationary reference fixture; (2) Evaluation of gun pointing accuracy through comparison of DQI-NP and a high accuracy INS in an operational environment on a tracked military vehicle; (3) Van test comparison of dynamic body orientation between C-MIGITSä II and a high accuracy strapdown inertial system.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 10th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GPS 1997) September 16 - 19, 1997 Kansas City, MO
Pages:	825 - 830
Cite this article:	Macdonald, Douglas A., Stoll, Edward W., "Attitude Accuracy and Repeatability Studies of C-MIGITS TM II and DQI-NP," Proceedings of the 10th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GPS 1997), Kansas City, MO, September 1997, pp. 825-830.
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