A Low Cost GPS/INS Sensor for Small UAVs Augmented with Multiple GPS Antennas

Rui Hirokawa, Ryusuke Ohata, Takuji Ebinuma and Taro Suzuki

Abstract:	In this paper, a tightly coupled GPS/INS based on low cost MEMS sensors with multiple GPS antennas providing highly accurate attitude of a small UAV is proposed. The attitude accuracy of the typical GPS/INS sensor is limited to 1 deg–3 deg because of the instability of MEMS inertial sensors. The higher attitude accuracy can be obtained by a GPS compass using the carrier phase measurements. However, the fast and reliable ambiguity resolution using the low cost GPS L1 receiver modules is highly challenging for the highly maneuverable small UAV. For the proposed method, a tightly coupled GPS/INS is also tightly integrated with the GPS compass. The eective and reliable ambiguity search can be performed based on the estimated attitude by GPS/INS with a couple of constraints for the base line vector. The performance of the GPS/INS sensor on the flight is evaluated by the hardware-in-the-loop simulations using GPS RF simulator, and the field test. The heading accuracy better than 0.12 deg (1) was confirmed.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 20th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GNSS 2007) September 25 - 28, 2007 Fort Worth Convention Center Fort Worth, TX
Pages:	96 - 103
Cite this article:	Hirokawa, Rui, Ohata, Ryusuke, Ebinuma, Takuji, Suzuki, Taro, "A Low Cost GPS/INS Sensor for Small UAVs Augmented with Multiple GPS Antennas," Proceedings of the 20th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GNSS 2007), Fort Worth, TX, September 2007, pp. 96-103.
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