Attitude Determination Accuracy Research Articles

Integrated GNSS Attitude and Position Determination based on an Affine Constrained Model

Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) attitude determination and positioning play an important role in many navigation applications. However, the two GNSS-based problems are usually treated separately. This ignores the constraint information of the GNSS antenna array and the accuracy is limited. To improve the performance of navigation, an integrated attitude and position determination method based on an affine constraint model is presented. In the first part, the GNSS array model and affine constrained attitude determination method are compared with the unconstrained methods. Then the integrated attitude and position determination method is presented. The performance of the proposed method is tested with a series of static data and dynamic experimental GNSS data. The results show that the proposed method can improve the success rate of ambiguity resolution to further improve the accuracy of attitude determination and relative positioning compared to the unconstrained methods.

Accurate Attitude Estimation of a Moving Land Vehicle Using Low-Cost MEMS IMU Sensors

This paper presents a novel Kalman filter for the accurate determination of a vehicle’s attitude (pitch and roll angles) using a low-cost MEMS inertial measurement unit (IMU) sensor, comprising a tri-axial gyroscope and a tri-axial accelerometer. Currently, vehicles deploy expensive gyroscopes for attitude determination. A low-cost MEMS gyro cannot be used because of the drift problem. Typically, an accelerometer is used to correct this drift by measuring the attitude from gravitational acceleration. This is, however, not possible in vehicular applications, because accelerometer measurements are corrupted by external accelerations produced due to vehicle movements. In this paper, we show that vehicle kinematics allow the removal of external accelerations from the lateral and vertical axis accelerometer measurements, thus giving the correct estimate of lateral and vertical axis gravitational accelerations. An estimate of the longitudinal axis gravitational acceleration can then be obtained by using the vector norm property of gravitational acceleration. A Kalman filter is designed, which implements the proposed solution and uses the accelerometer in conjunction with the gyroscope to accurately determine the attitude of a vehicle. Hence, this paper enables the use of extremely low-cost MEMS IMU for accurate attitude determination in vehicular domain for the first time. The proposed filter was tested by both simulations and experiments under various dynamic conditions and results were compared with five existing methods from the literature. The proposed filter was able to maintain sub-degree estimation accuracy even under very severe and prolonged dynamic conditions. To signify the importance of the achieved accuracy in determining accurate attitude, we investigated its use in two vehicular applications: vehicle yaw estimate and vehicle location estimate by dead reckoning and showed the performance improvements obtained by the proposed filter.

Evaluation on the impact of IMU grades on BDS + GPS PPP/INS tightly coupled integration

The unexpected observing environments in dynamic applications may lead to partial and/or complete satellite signal outages frequently, which can definitely impact on the positioning performance of the Precise Point Positioning (PPP) in terms of decreasing available satellite numbers, breaking the continuity of observations, and degrading PPP’s positioning accuracy. Generally, both the Inertial Navigation System (INS) and the multi-constellation Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) can be used to enhance the performance of PPP. This paper introduces the mathematical models of the multi-GNSS PPP/INS Tightly Coupled Integration (TCI), and investigates its performance from several aspects. Specifically, it covers (1) the use of the BDS/GPS PPP, PPP/INS, and their combination; (2) three positioning modes including PPP, PPP/INS TCI, and PPP/INS Loosely Coupled Integration (LCI); (3) the use of four various INS systems named navigation grade, tactical grade, auto grade, and Micro-Electro-Mechanical-Sensors (MEMS) one; (4) three PPP observation scenarios including PPP available, partially available, and fully outage. According to the statistics results, (1) the positioning performance of the PPP/INS (either TCI or LCI) mode is insignificantly depended on the grade of inertial sensor, when there are enough available satellites; (2) after the complete GNSS outages, the TCI mode expresses both higher convergence speed and more accurate positioning solutions than the LCI mode. Furthermore, in the TCI mode, using a higher grade inertial sensor is beneficial for the PPP convergence; (3) under the partial GNSS outage situations, the PPP/INS TCI mode position divergence speed is also restrained significantly; and (4) the attitude determination accuracy of the PPP/INS integration is highly correlated with the grade of inertial sensor.

On the identification of well-behaved turbulent boundary layers

This paper introduces a new method based on the diagnostic plot (Alfredsson et al., Phys. Fluids, vol. 23, 2011, 041702) to assess the convergence towards a well-behaved zero-pressure-gradient (ZPG) turbulent boundary layer (TBL). The most popular and well-understood methods to assess the convergence towards a well-behaved state rely on empirical skin-friction curves (requiring accurate skin-friction measurements), shape-factor curves (requiring full velocity profile measurements with an accurate wall position determination) or wake-parameter curves (requiring both of the previous quantities). On the other hand, the proposed diagnostic-plot method only needs measurements of mean and fluctuating velocities in the outer region of the boundary layer at arbitrary wall-normal positions. To test the method, six tripping configurations, including optimal set-ups as well as both under- and overtripped cases, are used to quantify the convergence of ZPG TBLs towards well-behaved conditions in the Reynolds-number range covered by recent high-fidelity direct numerical simulation data up to a Reynolds number based on the momentum thickness and free-stream velocity $Re_{\unicode[STIX]{x1D703}}$ of approximately 4000 (corresponding to 2.5 m from the leading edge) in a wind-tunnel experiment. Additionally, recent high-Reynolds-number data sets have been employed to validate the method. The results show that weak tripping configurations lead to deviations in the mean flow and the velocity fluctuations within the logarithmic region with respect to optimally tripped boundary layers. On the other hand, a strong trip leads to a more energized outer region, manifested in the emergence of an outer peak in the velocity-fluctuation profile and in a more prominent wake region. While established criteria based on skin-friction and shape-factor correlations yield generally equivalent results with the diagnostic-plot method in terms of convergence towards a well-behaved state, the proposed method has the advantage of being a practical surrogate that is a more efficient tool when designing the set-up for TBL experiments, since it diagnoses the state of the boundary layer without the need to perform extensive velocity profile measurements.

AN ATTITUDE MODELLING METHOD BASED ON THE INHERENT FREQUENCY OF A SATELLITE PLATFORM

Abstract. The accuracy of attitude determination plays a key role in the improvement of surveying and mapping accuracy for high-resolution remote-sensing satellites, and it is a bottleneck in large-scale satellite topographical mapping. As the on-board energy is constrained and the performance of an attitude-measurement device is limited, the attitude acquired is discretely sampled with a settled time interval. The larger the interval, the easier the data transmission, and the more deviation the attitude data will have. Meanwhile, several kinds of jitter frequencies have been detected in satellite platforms. This paper presents a novel attitude modelling (AttModel) method that sufficiently considers the discrete and periodic characteristics, and the attitude model built is continuous and consists of several inherent waves of different frequencies. The process of modelling includes two steps: (a) frequency detection, which uses raw gyroscope data within a period of time to detect the attitude frequencies (as the gyroscope data can actually reflect continuous, very small changes of the satellite platform), and (b) attitude modelling , which processes the attitude data that was filtered by extended Kalman filtering based on general polynomial and trigonometric polynomials, and these trigonometric polynomials are rebuilt by those frequencies detected in the first part of the modelling process. Finally, one experiment designed for verifying the effectiveness of the presented method shows that the AttModel method can reach a slightly better pointing accuracy without ground-control points than traditional attitude-interpolation methods.

Online attitude determination of a passively magnetically stabilized spacecraft

An online attitude determination filter is developed for a nano satellite that has no onboard attitude sensors or gyros. Specifically, the attitude of NASA Ames Research Center's O/OREOS, a passively magnetically stabilized 3U CubeSat, is determined using only an estimate of the solar vector obtained from solar panel currents. The filter is based upon the existing multiplicative extended Kalman filter (MEKF) but instead of relying on gyros to drive the motion model, the filter instead incorporates a model of the spacecraft's attitude dynamics in the motion model. An attitude determination accuracy of five degrees is demonstrated, a performance verified using flight data from the University of Michigan's RAX-1. Although the filter was designed for the specific problem of a satellite without gyros or attitude determination it could also be used to provide smoothing of noisy gyro signals or to provide a backup in the event of gyro failures.

Satellite Attitude Determination and Map Projection Based on Robust Image Matching

Small satellites have limited payload and their attitudes are sometimes difficult to determine from the limited onboard sensors alone. Wrong attitudes lead to inaccurate map projections and measurements that require post-processing correction. In this study, we propose an automated and robust scheme that derives the satellite attitude from its observation images and known satellite position by matching land features from an observed image and from well-registered base-map images. The scheme combines computer vision algorithms (i.e., feature detection, and robust optimization) and geometrical constraints of the satellite observation. Applying the proposed method to UNIFORM-1 observations, which is a 50 kg class small satellite, satellite attitudes were determined with an accuracy of 0.02°, comparable to that of star trackers, if the satellite position is accurately determined. Map-projected images can be generated based on the accurate attitudes. Errors in the satellite position can add systematic errors to derived attitudes. The proposed scheme focuses on determining satellite attitude with feature detection algorithms applying to raw satellite images, unlike image registration studies which register already map-projected images. By delivering accurate attitude determination and map projection, the proposed method can improve the image geometries of small satellites, and thus reveal fine-scale information about the Earth.

Accuracy of the ActiGraph GT9X Inclinometer to Assess Human Body Postures

Objective: Accelerometer-determined physical activity, sedentary behavior and energy expenditure estimation may be influenced by the accuracy of accelerometer-assessed inclinometer. The purpose of this study was to examine the accuracy of the ActiGraph GT9X (most recent ActiGraph model) inclinometer across participant body habitus, and in particular, differences in central adiposity. Methods: Eighteen participants (Mage = 21.5 years) completed a series of 11 consecutive activities that varied in both movement (i.e., no movement, walking and pedaling) and anatomic position (i.e., lying, sitting and standing). During the trials, participants wore an ActiGraph GT9X accelerometer, with direct observation used to compare body position determination derived from the ActiGraph GT9X inclinometer. Results: The ActiGraph GT9X inclinometer demonstrated moderate accuracy (>68%) in body position determination for sedentary behaviors, high accuracy (>95%) in body position determination for ambulatory-based activities (e.g., walking and jogging), and had varied accuracy (100% vs. 32.1%) in identifying non-wear. Conclusion: The exclusive use of inclinometry for sedentary behavior and non-wear determination is not recommended.

Sun sensor design and test of a micro satellite

According to the requirement of small satellite, this paper designed a digital sun sensor which diaphragm is a V-shaped cross-section structure. Using Position Sensitive Detector (PSD) as the light detector, we designed the V-shaped cross-section structure based on the pinhole imaging principle. The sun sensor realized the accurate calculation for two axis sun angle of the sun sensor. The mechanical test, thermal test and testing of the sun sensor are designed and carried out. The mechanical test and thermal test results verify the stability of the sun sensor. Testing result shows that the detection angle can reach (120°)×(120°), and the attitude determination accuracy is better than 6” in the entire viewing field. The mass, volume and power consumption of the sun sensor is 0.177 kg, 78 mm×77 mm×21 mm and 0.25 W. The sun sensor has low power consumption, large viewing angle and high precision characteristics, which realized the sun sensor the miniaturization and meet the requirements of the micro satellite. Its performance has been verified in orbit.

Hydrogen maleate salts: precise and accurate determination of the hydrogen atom position in short hydrogen bonds using X-ray diffraction at extremely low temperatures

Hydrogen maleate salts: precise and accurate determination of the hydrogen atom position in short hydrogen bonds using X-ray diffraction at extremely low temperatures

Design and testing of a phantom and instrumented gynecological applicator based on GaN dosimeter for use in high dose rate brachytherapy quality assurance.

High dose rate brachytherapy (HDR-BT) is widely used to treat gynecologic, anal, prostate, head, neck, and breast cancers. These treatments are typically administered in large dose per fraction (>5 Gy) and with high-gradient-dose-distributions, with serious consequences in case of a treatment delivery error (e.g., on dwell position and dwell time). Thus, quality assurance (QA) or quality control (QC) should be systematically and independently implemented. This paper describes the design and testing of a phantom and an instrumented gynecological applicator for pretreatment QA and in vivo QC, respectively. The authors have designed a HDR-BT phantom equipped with four GaN-based dosimeters. The authors have also instrumented a commercial multichannel HDR-BT gynecological applicator by rigid incorporation of four GaN-based dosimeters in four channels. Specific methods based on the four GaN dosimeter responses are proposed for accurate determination of dwell time and dwell position inside phantom or applicator. The phantom and the applicator have been tested for HDR-BT QA in routine over two different periods: 29 and 15 days, respectively. Measurements in dwell position and time are compared to the treatment plan. A modified position-time gamma index is used to monitor the quality of treatment delivery. The HDR-BT phantom and the instrumented applicator have been used to determine more than 900 dwell positions over the different testing periods. The errors between the planned and measured dwell positions are 0.11 ± 0.70 mm (1σ) and 0.01 ± 0.42 mm (1σ), with the phantom and the applicator, respectively. The dwell time errors for these positions do not exhibit significant bias, with a standard deviation of less than 100 ms for both systems. The modified position-time gamma index sets a threshold, determining whether the treatment run passes or fails. The error detectability of their systems has been evaluated through tests on intentionally introduced error protocols. With a detection threshold of 0.7 mm, the error detection rate on dwell position is 22% at 0.5 mm, 96% at 1 mm, and 100% at and beyond 1.5 mm. On dwell time with a dwell time threshold of 0.1 s, it is 90% at 0.2 s and 100% at and beyond 0.3 s. The proposed HDR-BT phantom and instrumented applicator have been tested and their main characteristics have been evaluated. These systems perform unsupervised measurements and analysis without prior treatment plan information. They allow independent verification of dwell position and time with accuracy of measurements comparable with other similar systems reported in the literature.

RETRACTED: Feedback controller input design for ignition of deuterium–tritium in NSTX tokamak

Nuclear fusion is a nuclear reaction in which two or more atomic nuclei (such as a deuterium–tritium) come very close and then collide at a very high speed and join to form a new high energy nucleus (Helium). Determination of accurate plasma horizontal position during plasma discharge is essential to transport it to a control system based on feedback. The solutions of Grad-Shafranov equation (GSE) analytically can be used for theoretical studies of plasma equilibrium, transport and magneto hydrodynamic stability. Here we have presented specific choices for source functions, kinetic pressure and poloidal plasma current, to be quadratic in poloidal magnetic flux and derive an analytical solution for Grad-Shafranov equation. With applying this solution to NSTX tokamak, we calculated poloidal magnetic flux, toroidal current density and normalized pressure profiles for this tokamak. Toroidal and poloidal flows can considerably change the equilibrium parameters of tokamak. These effects on the equilibrium of tokamak plasmas are numerically investigated using the code FLOW. As a comparative approach to equilibrium problem, the code is used to model equilibrium of NSTX tokamak for case pure toroidal flow. Comparison of the results of these two methods for NSTX tokamak shows good agreement between two and that our analytical solution can be served as good benchmark against the equilibrium code FLOW.

A scheme of satellite multi-sensor fault-tolerant attitude estimation

This paper presents a scheme for satellite multi-sensor fault-tolerant attitude estimation. It can both detect a faulty sensor online and conduct fault tolerance in time. First, a satellite attitude estimator based on error states is presented as the unified filter algorithm, in which the filter state equation is built with the gyro model and satellite kinematics, and the measurement equations are built with angle sensors. Meanwhile, typical fault models of the angle sensors are given. Then, a fault-tolerant federated Kalman filter (FTFKF) scheme is designed. Its three sub-filters include the respective angle sensors and share the public gyro measurement. Under the sensor fault condition, a FTFKF can detect the faulty sensor by contrasting and analysing the dimensionless fault detection factors and then selectively fusing the sub-filters’ outputs to enable the satellite attitude determination accuracy to approach normal. The comparative analysis of simulation results in typical fault cases shows that the proposed satellite multi-sensor fault-tolerant attitude estimation scheme may achieve the expected fault-tolerant performance. It is promising for enhancing the reliability of satellite attitude determination and control systems.

APPLICATION OF VEHICLE DYNAMIC MODELING IN UAVS FOR PRECISE DETERMINATION OF EXTERIOR ORIENTATION

Advances in unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) and especially micro aerial vehicle (MAV) technology together with increasing quality and decreasing price of imaging devices have resulted in growing use of MAVs in photogrammetry. The practicality of MAV mapping is seriously enhanced with the ability to determine parameters of exterior orientation (EO) with sufficient accuracy, in both absolute and relative senses (change of attitude between successive images). While differential carrier phase GNSS satisfies cm-level positioning accuracy, precise attitude determination is essential for both direct sensor orientation (DiSO) and integrated sensor orientation (ISO) in corridor mapping or in block configuration imaging over surfaces with low texture. Limited cost, size, and weight of MAVs represent limitations on quality of onboard navigation sensors and puts emphasis on exploiting full capacity of available resources. Typically short flying times (10-30 minutes) also limit the possibility of estimating and/or correcting factors such as sensor misalignment and poor attitude initialization of inertial navigation system (INS). This research aims at increasing the accuracy of attitude determination in both absolute and relative senses with no extra sensors onboard. In comparison to classical INS/GNSS setup, novel approach is presented here to integrated state estimation, in which vehicle dynamic model (VDM) is used as the main process model. Such system benefits from available information from autopilot and physical properties of the platform in enhancing performance of determination of trajectory and parameters of exterior orientation consequently. The navigation system employs a differential carrier phase GNSS receiver and a micro electro-mechanical system (MEMS) grade inertial measurement unit (IMU), together with MAV control input from autopilot. Monte-Carlo simulation has been performed on trajectories for typical corridor mapping and block imaging. Results reveal considerable reduction in attitude errors with respect to conventional INS/GNSS system, in both absolute and relative senses. This eventually translates into higher redundancy and accuracy for photogrammetry applications.

APPLICATION OF VEHICLE DYNAMIC MODELING IN UAVS FOR PRECISE DETERMINATION OF EXTERIOR ORIENTATION

Abstract. Advances in unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) and especially micro aerial vehicle (MAV) technology together with increasing quality and decreasing price of imaging devices have resulted in growing use of MAVs in photogrammetry. The practicality of MAV mapping is seriously enhanced with the ability to determine parameters of exterior orientation (EO) with sufficient accuracy, in both absolute and relative senses (change of attitude between successive images). While differential carrier phase GNSS satisfies cm-level positioning accuracy, precise attitude determination is essential for both direct sensor orientation (DiSO) and integrated sensor orientation (ISO) in corridor mapping or in block configuration imaging over surfaces with low texture. Limited cost, size, and weight of MAVs represent limitations on quality of onboard navigation sensors and puts emphasis on exploiting full capacity of available resources. Typically short flying times (10-30 minutes) also limit the possibility of estimating and/or correcting factors such as sensor misalignment and poor attitude initialization of inertial navigation system (INS). This research aims at increasing the accuracy of attitude determination in both absolute and relative senses with no extra sensors onboard. In comparison to classical INS/GNSS setup, novel approach is presented here to integrated state estimation, in which vehicle dynamic model (VDM) is used as the main process model. Such system benefits from available information from autopilot and physical properties of the platform in enhancing performance of determination of trajectory and parameters of exterior orientation consequently. The navigation system employs a differential carrier phase GNSS receiver and a micro electro-mechanical system (MEMS) grade inertial measurement unit (IMU), together with MAV control input from autopilot. Monte-Carlo simulation has been performed on trajectories for typical corridor mapping and block imaging. Results reveal considerable reduction in attitude errors with respect to conventional INS/GNSS system, in both absolute and relative senses. This eventually translates into higher redundancy and accuracy for photogrammetry applications.

A novel design of feedback control system for plasma horizontal position in IR-T1 tokamak

Determination of accurate plasma horizontal position during plasma discharge is essential to transport it to a control system based on feedback. By using the plasma-circuits linearized model, Proportional Integral Derivative (PID) based controllers and a first order transfer function representing the power supply (PS) dynamics of vertical coil system for IR-T1 tokamak, we analyzed step feedback response of the overall system of IR-T1 tokamak and corresponding Bode diagrams for two cases with and without the plasma resistance and the eddy currents distribution. Also we did experiments for determination of plasma horizontal displacement in this tokamak. This work is done by four magnetic probes that are installed on the circular contour of the tokamak. This data used as input to the feedback controller to validate the performance of it. Results of feedback response analysis show that the controller has good performance. Due to approximations in the controller design, construction, installation and implementation of the controller is necessary and this is the purpose of our future works.

Tropospheric wet delay estimation using GNSS: Case study of a permanent network in Egypt

The tropospheric delay is a serious error source for positioning using Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS). Since the scientific applications of GNSS positioning such as crustal deformation studies and earthquakes prediction require high accuracy in positioning, analysis of tropospheric delay calculation is necessary to improve GNSS positioning accuracy.In this study data from ground based GNSS receivers are used to evaluate effect of the tropospheric delay in position determination accuracy. These data are also used to study the tropospheric delay characteristics. The collected GNSS data are for the year 2013, taken from 8 stations from Egypt Permanent GNSS Network (EPGN) and 13 IGS stations. The GNSS data were processed using advanced GNSS software called Bernese V 5.0.The results show that the RMS of the coordinates is better in case of making estimation for the troposphere ZWD and bad in case of ignoring the troposphere. Also there is a correlation between the troposphere and the height component. The troposphere ZWD values have daily, temporal and spatial variation, depending on time in the day, day in the year, geographic location of the station and how near it to water. The ZWD values also go upward from the start to the end of the year, and also it shows high correlation with the water vapor content in the troposphere.

Accurate determination of screw position in treating fifth metatarsal base fractures to shorten radiation exposure time.

Anatomical markers can help to guide lag screw placement during surgery for internal fixation of fifth metatarsal base fractures. This study aimed to identify the optimal anatomical markers and thus reduce radiation exposure. A total of 50 patients in Huashan Hospital, Shanghai, China, who underwent oblique foot radiography in the lateral position were randomly selected. The angles between the fifth metatarsal axis and cuboid articular surface were measured to determine the optimal lag screw placement relative to anatomical markers. The line connecting the styloid process of the fifth metatarsal base with the second metatarsophalangeal (MTP) joint intersected with the fifth metatarsal base fracture line at an angle of 86.85° ± 5.44°. The line connecting the fifth metatarsal base styloid with the third and fourth MTP joints intersected with the fracture line at angles of 93.28° ± 5.24° and 100.95° ± 5.00°, respectively. The proximal articular surface of the fifth metatarsal base intersected with the line connecting the styloid process of the fifth metatarsal base with the second, third and fourth MTP joints at angles of 24.02° ± 4.77°, 30.79° ± 4.53° and 38.08° ± 4.54°, respectively. The fifth metatarsal base styloid and third MTP joint can be used as anatomical markers for lag screw placement in fractures involving the fifth tarsometatarsal joint. The connection line, which is normally perpendicular to the fracture line, provides sufficient mechanical stability to facilitate accurate screw placement. The use of these anatomical markers could help to reduce unnecessary radiation exposure for patients and medical staff.

基于多台北斗接收机的测姿精度对目标定位精度影响分析

基于多台北斗接收机的测姿精度对目标定位精度影响分析

複数のGNSSアンテナ搭載UAVを用いた高精度位置姿勢推定と精密三次元計測

This paper describes an accurate attitude determination technique using multiple global navigation satellite system (GNSS) receivers and antennas for small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). A laser survey using a small UAV needs highly accurate position and attitude information for reconstructing 3D models. The proposed technique uses the multiple GNSS antenna's positions computed by the GNSS carrier phase measurements to estimate the UAV's position and attitude. To solve the GNSS carrier phase ambiguity, the reliable ambiguity search is performed with a couple of constraints for the base line vector. The performance of the proposed technique is evaluated in the static test. From the test, the proposed technique could estimate UAV's attitude in 0.1 degree accuracy. Furthermore, the accurate UAV's position could be estimated in almost 100 % availability.