Direction finder
AssigneeAtlantic Inertial Systems Limited
InventorGeoffrey Henderson
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method of determining a reference direction for an angular measurement device, comprising: providing a rigid structure having an antenna for a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) fixed at a first point thereof; fixing the angular measurement device to a second point on the rigid structure, separated from the first point by at least 0.5 meters; while rotating the rigid structure so as to cause rotational movement of the antenna around the sensitive axis, acquiring velocity measurement data from the GNSS and angular velocity measurement data from the angular measurement device; and using the velocity measurement data and the angular velocity measurement data to determine a reference direction for the angular measurement device.
Claims17
A method of determining a reference direction for an angular measurement device, comprising:
- providing a rigid structure having an antenna for a global navigation satellite system fixed at a first point thereof;
- fixing the angular measurement device to a second point on the rigid structure, wherein the second point is separated from the first point by at least 0.5 meters and wherein a sensitive axis of the angular measurement device is not aligned with the direction between the first point and the second point;
- while rotating the rigid structure so as to cause rotational movement of the antenna around the sensitive axis of the angular measurement device, acquiring velocity measurement data from the global navigation satellite system and angular velocity measurement data from the angular measurement device;
- and
- using the velocity measurement data and the angular velocity measurement data to determine a reference direction for the angular measurement device.
A device for determining a reference direction for an angular measurement device, comprising:
- a rigid structure having an antenna for a global navigation satellite system fixed at a first point thereof;
- a mount point for mounting an angular measurement device at a second point on the rigid structure such that a sensitive axis of the angular measurement device is not aligned with the direction between the first point and the second point, wherein the second point is separated from the first point by at least 0.5 meters;
- and
- a processing device arranged to:
- acquire velocity measurement data from the global navigation satellite system and angular velocity measurement data from the angular measurement device while the rigid structure is rotated so as to cause rotational movement of the antenna around the sensitive axis of the angular measurement device;
- and
- using the velocity measurement data and the angular velocity measurement data to determine a reference direction for the angular measurement device.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.