Attitude heading reference system using MEMS inertial sensors with dual-axis rotation

Area of Science:

• * Engineering
• * Sensor Technology
• * Navigation Systems

Background:

• * Traditional attitude and heading reference systems (AHRS) often suffer from drift due to gyroscope biases.
• * Magnetic interference can further degrade the accuracy of heading estimation in conventional systems.
• * MEMS inertial sensors offer a low-cost, small-size solution but require robust drift compensation techniques.

Purpose of the Study:

• * To develop a low-cost, small-size attitude and heading reference system (AHRS) utilizing MEMS inertial sensors.
• * To implement a dual-axis rotation structure and optimization algorithm to mitigate attitude and heading drift.
• * To evaluate the performance of the proposed AHRS against magnetic interference and non-rotation conditions.

Main Methods:

• * Integration of MEMS inertial sensors into a compact AHRS design.
• * Application of a dual-axis rotation mechanism with a carefully designed rotary scheme.
• * Implementation of an optimization algorithm to correct installation angle errors.
• * Performance evaluation through simulations and experimental validation.

Main Results:

• * The dual-axis rotation significantly reduced attitude and heading drifts caused by gyroscope biases.
• * The proposed AHRS demonstrated robustness against magnetic interference.
• * Post-rotation attitude and heading errors were confined to a narrow oscillating range.
• * Achieved attitude error of approximately 3° and heading error less than 3°, a >5-fold improvement over non-rotation methods.

Conclusions:

• * The novel dual-axis rotation strategy effectively compensates for gyroscope biases in MEMS-based AHRS.
• * The system provides accurate and stable attitude and heading determination, unaffected by magnetic interference.
• * This MEMS AHRS offers a cost-effective and high-performance solution for navigation applications.