Method and apparatus for high accuracy relative motion determination using inertial sensors

A system comprising:

• a first unit located at a first position, the first unit operable to generate first unit information that is responsive to a motion of the first position;
• a second unit located at a second position nominally offset from the first position by a nominal lever-arm, the second unit operable to generate second unit information that is responsive to a motion of the second position;
• and
• a processing unit operable to receive the first unit information from the first unit and the second unit information from the second unit, the processing unit additionally operable to generate compensated sensor information from the first unit information and the second unit information;
• wherein the processing unit generates resets to relative states of a relative navigation solution as a function of the compensated sensor information and reference information,
• wherein the compensated sensor information is generated from the first unit information and the second unit information and
• wherein the reference information is indicative of at least one of the nominal lever-arm of the second position relative to the first position and a nominal relative velocity of the second position relative to the first position.

A method comprising:

• receiving sensor data from at least two sensors, wherein the sensor data is indicative of a motion of a first position and a motion of a second position;
• compensating the received sensor data to generate compensated sensor information;
• generating a relative navigation solution as a function of at least the compensated sensor information;
• and
• generating corrective feedback as a function of at least the relative navigation solution and reference information.

Software embodied on a storage medium comprising a plurality of program instructions operable to cause a processor to:

• receive first unit information and second unit information from at least two sensors;
• generate compensated sensor information as a function of at least the first unit information and the second unit information;
• and
• generate a relative navigation solution as a function of at least the compensated sensor information.

An apparatus comprising:

• means for receiving sensor data from at least two sensors;
• means for generating compensated sensor information as a function of at least the sensor data;
• and
• means for receiving a relative navigation solution from the means for generating.