Initial Alignment of a Moving Inertial Navigation System

Abstract

This paper describes and discusses some of the techniques by which a moving inertial platform may be aligned by using external velocity measurements and also presents some of the major problems and error sources affecting such alignment. It is based upon the results of a 3-year study, of inertial and doppler-inertial navigation at the Naval Ordnance Test Station, China Lake, California, and, in general, applies to inertial navigation systems which erect to either the local level or the mass-attraction vertical. Although rudimentary derivations are made of the alignment techniques, the paper is largely nonmathematical for ease of reading. Emphasis is placed upon the major errors affecting the alignment. This paper describes and discusses some of the techniques by which a moving inertial platform may be aligned by using external velocity measurements and also presents some of the major problems and error sources affecting such alignment. It is based upon the results of a 3-year study, of inertial and doppler-inertial navigation at the Naval Ordnance Test Station, China Lake, California, and, in general, applies to inertial navigation systems which erect to either the local level or the mass-attraction vertical. Although rudimentary derivations are made of the alignment techniques, the paper is largely nonmathematical for ease of reading. Emphasis is placed upon the major errors affecting the alignment.