Gravity-Based Characterization of Three-Axis Accelerometers in Terms of Intrinsic Accelerometer Parameters

Area of Science:

• Instrumentation and Measurement
• Inertial Navigation Systems
• Metrology

Background:

• Cross-sensitivity matrices are crucial for translating accelerometer responses to specific coordinate systems.
• The coordinate system for inertial three-axis accelerometers is often defined by gimbal-based instruments, leading to orientation-dependent matrices.
• This orientation dependence means the cross-sensitivity matrix is not unique for a given accelerometer.

Purpose of the Study:

• To define nine intrinsic parameters for three-axis accelerometers.
• To describe methods for directly measuring these intrinsic parameters.
• To outline how to calculate intrinsic parameters from independently determined cross-sensitivity matrices.

Main Methods:

• Definition of nine intrinsic parameters characterizing three-axis accelerometers.
• Direct measurement techniques for these intrinsic parameters.
• Calculation of intrinsic parameters from independently derived cross-sensitivity matrices.

Main Results:

• Intrinsic parameters provide a standardized method to characterize accelerometer behavior.
• Calculated intrinsic parameters can isolate accelerometer-specific properties from measurement setup variations.
• This approach allows for more accurate comparisons of accelerometer cross-sensitivity measurement capabilities between different institutions.

Conclusions:

• Intrinsic parameters offer a robust way to assess and compare the performance of three-axis accelerometers.
• The proposed method effectively separates accelerometer intrinsic properties from gimbal-related errors and alignment differences.
• This facilitates reliable inter-institutional comparisons of accelerometer metrology.