Rate-Gyro-Integral Constraint for Ambiguity Resolution in GNSS Attitude Determination Applications

Sensors

Jiancheng Zhu²  Tao Li²  Jinling Wang¹  Xiaoping Hu² 

[1] School of Surveying and Geospatial Engineering, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia; E-Mail:;Department of Automatic Control, College of Mechatronics and Automation, National University of Defense Technology, Deya Street 109, Changsha 410073, Hunan, China; E-Mails:

关键词: ambiguity search space;    GNSS attitude determination;    rate-gyro-integral constraint;    land vehicle application;   

DOI  :  10.3390/s130607979

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

In the field of Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) attitude determination, the constraints usually play a critical role in resolving the unknown ambiguities quickly and correctly. Many constraints such as the baseline length, the geometry of multi-baselines and the horizontal attitude angles have been used extensively to improve the performance of ambiguity resolution. In the GNSS/Inertial Navigation System (INS) integrated attitude determination systems using low grade Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU), the initial heading parameters of the vehicle are usually worked out by the GNSS subsystem instead of by the IMU sensors independently. However, when a rotation occurs, the angle at which vehicle has turned within a short time span can be measured accurately by the IMU. This measurement will be treated as a constraint, namely the rate-gyro-integral constraint, which can aid the GNSS ambiguity resolution. We will use this constraint to filter the candidates in the ambiguity search stage. The ambiguity search space shrinks significantly with this constraint imposed during the rotation, thus it is helpful to speeding up the initialization of attitude parameters under dynamic circumstances. This paper will only study the applications of this new constraint to land vehicles. The impacts of measurement errors on the effect of this new constraint will be assessed for different grades of IMU and current average precision level of GNSS receivers. Simulations and experiments in urban areas have demonstrated the validity and efficacy of the new constraint in aiding GNSS attitude determinations.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2013 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.