Flight Test Results of an ADA Coded INS/GPS Open Loop Kalman Filter Design

Ronald T. Kelley

Abstract:	Integrating an Inertial Navigation System (INS) with a highly accurate Global Positioning System (GPS) via a Kalman filter allows inflight calibration of INS system errors. Implementing an embedded GPS/INS into an existing INS design requires extensive hardware and software modifications which are quite costly and time consuming. Implementing an open- loop Kalman filter capable of processing external measurements in the mission computer provides an alternate means for upgrading existing INS designs with GPS equipment. A great advantage of this open- loop Kalman filter design is its versatility. The filter is not sensor or system dependent and is easily integrated into an onboard computer. Existing INS hardware and software remain unchanged, resulting in considerable cost savings. The open-loop Kalman filter was developed and coded using the Ada Higher Order Language. It is able to take over an INS ground alignment, transition to inflight alignment (IFA) mode, process GPS measurements and compute corrected navigation data. Flight tests have been completed onboard the McDonnell Aircraft (MCAIR) King Air aircraft. This paper gives an overview of the open-loop Kalman filter design and flight test results which have demonstrated the feasibility of our open-loop approach.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 3rd International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GPS 1990) September 19 - 21, 1990 The Broadmoor Hotel Colorado Spring, CO
Pages:	505 - 511
Cite this article:	Kelley, Ronald T., "Flight Test Results of an ADA Coded INS/GPS Open Loop Kalman Filter Design," Proceedings of the 3rd International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GPS 1990), Colorado Spring, CO, September 1990, pp. 505-511.
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