Azimuth estimation device

An azimuth estimation device for estimating an azimuth of a vehicle, the azimuth estimation device being constituting a part of a high accuracy own-vehicle position detection device of the vehicle, the azimuth estimation device comprising:

• a yaw angular velocity sensor detecting a yaw angular velocity of the vehicle;
• a GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) unit receiving the GNSS signal and acquiring the azimuth of the vehicle as a GNSS azimuth based on the GNSS signal;
• a sensor bias estimation device for estimating a bias of the yaw angular velocity sensor,
• a yaw angular velocity correction unit subtracting the bias from the yaw angular velocity output from the yaw angular velocity sensor to output a yaw angular velocity correction value;
• and
• a sensor azimuth estimation unit integrating the yaw angular velocity correction value thereby to calculate a corrected sensor azimuth,
• wherein the sensor bias estimation device, the yaw angular velocity correction unit, and the sensor azimuth estimation unit are configured by an electronic control device which includes a CPU, a non-volatile memory, and a volatile memory,
• wherein the sensor bias estimation device comprises,
• a bias estimation unit that acquires a yaw angular velocity integrated value by integrating the yaw angular velocity acquired from the yaw angular velocity sensor, acquires the GNSS azimuth, and acquires an estimated bias value based on an azimuth difference which is a difference between the yaw angular velocity integrated value and the GNSS azimuth;
• a first determination unit that determines whether a first condition that an accuracy of the GNSS azimuth acquired from the GNSS unit is within a prescribed range is met;
• a bias decision unit that decides the estimated bias value as the bias of the yaw angular velocity sensor when the first condition is met;
• a stationary state bias estimation unit that acquires a stationary state bias based on a signal from the yaw angular velocity sensor when the vehicle is stopped;
• and
• a second determination unit that determines whether a second condition that a difference between the estimated bias value and the stationary state bias is within a prescribed range is met,
• wherein the bias decision unit decides the estimated bias value as the bias of the yaw angular velocity sensor when the first condition and the second condition are met.