Velocity/Position Integration Formula (II): Application to Inertial Navigation Computation
This work tackles a critical but under-treated problem in inertial navigation for high-speed aircraft and precision systems, though it appears incremental as it builds on prior integration formulae.
The paper addresses the issue of navigation frame rotation in inertial navigation systems for high-speed aircraft and precision navigation by applying newly-devised velocity/position integration formulae. It derives sample algorithms and compares them analytically and numerically to existing methods, highlighting problems and potential benefits.
Inertial navigation applications are usually referenced to a rotating frame. Consideration of the navigation reference frame rotation in the inertial navigation algorithm design is an important but so far less seriously treated issue, especially for ultra-high-speed flying aircraft or the future ultra-precision navigation system of several meters per hour. This paper proposes a rigorous approach to tackle the issue of navigation frame rotation in velocity/position computation by use of the newly-devised velocity/position integration formulae in the Part I companion paper. The two integration formulae set a well-founded cornerstone for the velocity/position algorithms design that makes the comprehension of the inertial navigation computation principle more accessible to practitioners, and different approximations to the integrals involved will give birth to various velocity/position update algorithms. Two-sample velocity and position algorithms are derived to exemplify the design process. In the context of level-flight airplane examples, the derived algorithm is analytically and numerically compared to the typical algorithms existing in the literature. The results throw light on the problems in existing algorithms and the potential benefits of the derived algorithm.