Search Results (3)

This research proposes a novel modeling method for integrating IMU arrays into multi-sensor kinematic positioning/navigation systems. This method characterizes sensor errors (biases/scale factor errors) for each IMU in an IMU array, leveraging the novel Generic Multisensor Integration Strategy (GMIS) and the framework for comprehensive error analysis in Discrete Kalman filtering developed through the authors’ previous research. This work enables the time-varying estimation of all individual sensor errors for an IMU array, as well as rigorous fault detection and exclusion for outlying measurements from all constituent sensors. This research explores the feasibility of applying Variance Component Estimation (VCE) to IMU array data, using separate variance components to characterize the performance of each IMU’s gyroscopes and accelerometers. This analysis is only made possible by directly modeling IMU inertial measurements under the GMIS. A real land-vehicle kinematic dataset was used to demonstrate the proposed technique. The a posteriori positioning/attitude standard deviations were compared between multi-IMU and single IMU solutions, with the multi-IMU solution providing an average accuracy improvement of ca. 14–16% in the estimated position, 30% in the estimated roll and pitch, and 40% in the estimated heading. The results of this research demonstrate that IMUs in an array do not generally exhibit homogeneous behavior, even when using the same model of tactical-grade MEMS IMU. Furthermore, VCE was used to compare the performance of three IMU sensors, which is not possible under other IMU array data fusion techniques. This research lays the groundwork for the future evaluation of IMU array sensor configurations. Full article

The MEMS array-based inertial navigation module (M-IMU) reduces the measurement singularities of MEMS sensors by fusing multiple data processing to improve its navigation performance. However, there are still existing random and fixed errors in M-IMU navigation. The calibration method calibrates the fixed error parameters of M-IMU to further improve navigation accuracy. In this paper, we propose a low-cost and efficient calibration method to effectively estimate the fixed error parameters of M-IMU. Firstly, we manually rotate the M-IMU in multiple sets of different attitudes (stationary), then use the LM-calibration algorithm to optimize the cost function of the corresponding sensors in different intervals of the stationary-dynamic filter separation to obtain the fixed error parameters of MEMS, and finally, the global fixed error parameters of the M-IMU are calibrated by adaptive support fusion of the individual MEMS fixed error parameters based on the benchmark conversion. A comparison of the MEMS calibrated separately by the fusion-calibration algorithm and the LM-calibration algorithm verified that the calibrated MEMS array improved the measurement accuracy by about 10 db and reduced the dispersion of the output data by about 8 db compared to the individual MEMS in a multi-dimensional test environment, indicating the robustness and feasibility of the fusion calibration algorithm. Full article

With the increase in global energy demand, the exploration and development of natural gas hydrate in sea has become a research hotspot in recent years. However, the environmental problems that may be brought about by large-scale harvesting are still concerns. The terrain monitoring of the trial harvesting area can effectively prevent the geological disasters that may be caused by the development of hydrates. Therefore, we have developed a new terrain monitoring device, which can work in the deep sea for a long time. Firstly, the structure of the sensor arrays and bus-type control system of the device are introduced. Secondly, an arc model with an interpolation method is used for reconstruction of the monitored terrain. Thirdly, after the accuracy of the sensing arrays are verified in laboratory, the device was placed in the Shenhu area of the South China Sea for more than 6 months of in-situ monitoring. Finally, we analyzed the data and concluded that the terrain of the monitored area was relatively flat, where the maximum subsidence was 12.3 cm and the maximum uplift was 2.75 cm. Full article