A Comparison of MEMS-Based IMU Calibration Models for Autonomous MAV Navigation

M. Buschmann, S. Winkler, T. Kordes, H.-W. Schulz, P. Vörsmann

Abstract:	Micro Air Vehicles are a major field of research at the Institute of Aerospace Systems of the Technical University of Braunschweig, Germany. The current research activities are focused on the fully autonomous flight of the 40 cm wing span and 360 g MAV Carolo. For achieving fully autonomous flight control and navigation aircraft state determination is essential. For that purpose a MEMS-based Inertial Measurement Unit was developed. In addition to the six inertial sensors, a temperature sensor embedded into one inertial sensor provides temperature information. After a description of the developed miniaturized Inertial Measurement Unit, the calibration results for scale factor and bias versus temperature measurements will be presented. Calibration results are one calibration table for each inertial sensor containing scale factor, bias and misalignment angles as a function of the temperature measurement. The calibration tables will be approximated by first and second order functions in order to save computational power during on-board sensor data processing. Furthermore, a flight test with the university's research aircraft, a Dornier Do 128-6, equipped with the high-precision Inertial Navigation System Honeywell Lasernav and a Novatel OEM3 GPS receiver as reference was carried out. The results show that the calibration results can be confirmed by the reference sensors. First and second order approximations for the calibration tables turn out to provide equivalent navigation accuracy compared to the original calibration tables by saving computational power.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 16th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GPS/GNSS 2003) September 9 - 12, 2003 Oregon Convention Center Portland, OR
Pages:	2833 - 2839
Cite this article:	Buschmann, M., Winkler, S., Kordes, T., Schulz, H.-W., Vörsmann, P., "A Comparison of MEMS-Based IMU Calibration Models for Autonomous MAV Navigation," Proceedings of the 16th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GPS/GNSS 2003), Portland, OR, September 2003, pp. 2833-2839.
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