Apparatus and method for terrain aided navigation using inertial position

A system for accurately determining at least position of a moveable object on a terrestrial surface of a celestial body with geo-mapping data and only at least one inertial sensor, the system comprising:

• processing circuitry configured to:
• initialize a Bayesian estimator with an a priori estimate of statistical information of an initial current uncorrected inertial navigation vector;
• receive, for a current time instance, an uncorrected inertial navigation vector of the moveable object on the terrestrial surface of the celestial body;
• for the current time instance, estimate inertial navigation error information, including corresponding statistical information, using the Bayesian estimator with at least one element of the uncorrected inertial navigation vector and the geo-mapping data, wherein the geo-mapping data comprises a representation of terrain elevation or gravity fields with terrain elevation and gravity field strength mapped as a function of terrain surface horizontal position;
• error correct the uncorrected inertial navigation vector, with the estimated inertial navigation error information and based on the geo-mapping data, for the current time instance;
• and
• predict, using the Bayesian estimator, inertial navigation error information, including corresponding statistical information, for a future time instance when a next uncorrected inertial navigation vector will be obtained.

A program product comprising a non-transitory processor-readable medium on which program instructions, configured to be executed by a programmable processor and for more accurately determining at least position of a moveable object on a terrestrial surface of a celestial body with geo-mapping data and only at least one inertial sensor, are embodied, and wherein the program instructions are operable to:

• initialize a Bayesian estimator with an a priori estimate of statistical information of an initial current uncorrected inertial navigation vector;
• receive, for a current time instance, uncorrected inertial navigation vector for the moveable object on the terrestrial surface of the celestial body;
• for the current time instance, estimate inertial navigation error information, including corresponding statistical information, using the Bayesian estimator with at least one element of an uncorrected inertial navigation vector and the geo-mapping data, wherein the geo-mapping data comprises a representation of terrain elevation or gravity fields with terrain elevation and gravity field strength mapped as a function of terrain surface horizontal position;
• error correct the uncorrected inertial navigation vector, with the estimated inertial navigation error information and based on the geo-mapping data, for the current time instance;
• and
• predict, using the Bayesian estimator, inertial navigation error information, including corresponding statistical information, for a future time instance when a next uncorrected inertial navigation vector will be obtained.