Geophysical inertial navigation system
US6493631B1 · kind B1 · utility
Assignee
Inventor
Key dates
| Filing date | May 30, 2002 |
| Grant date | Dec 10, 2002 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | May 30, 2022 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG01C17/30
- WIPO fieldMeasurement
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
An inertial navigation system employs geophysical (earth's magnetic and gravity) field sensors to measure body rotations of an aircraft or other vehicle. In effect, these replace expensive laser ring gyros used in conventional inertial navigation systems. The vector components of the geomagnetic field may be incorporated directly into the state vector describing the vehicle's attitude, acceleration, velocity, and position. A predictive filter (e.g. Kalman) operates on measured and predicted geophysical field components and on-board accelerometers. Predicted geophysical field components are obtained from maps and/or models of the earth's magnetic and gravity fields.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.