Steering Control of a Drilling Tool

An apparatus, comprising:

• an instrument cluster having gyroscopic sensors;
• and
• a controller that communicates with the instrument cluster, receives gyroscopic measurement data from the gyroscopic sensors, and continuously acquires a computed tool orientation of a drilling tool based on the gyroscopic measurement data received from the gyroscopic sensors,
• wherein the controller generates steering commands for actively guiding the drilling tool along a guided drilling trajectory based on a deviation of the computed tool orientation of the drilling tool from a planned drilling trajectory.

A method, comprising:

• acquiring static measurement data from sensors in a drilling tool during a static mode of operating the drilling tool, wherein the static measurement data includes one or more of static gyroscopic measurement data, static accelerometer measurement data, and static magnetometer measurement data;
• acquiring continuous dynamic measurement data from the sensors in the drilling tool during a dynamic mode of operating the drilling tool, wherein the continuous dynamic measurement data includes one or more of continuous dynamic gyroscopic measurement data, continuous dynamic accelerometer measurement data, and continuous dynamic magnetometer measurement data;
• acquiring a computed tool orientation for the drilling tool during the static mode of operating the drilling tool and the continuous mode of operating the drilling tool based on the static measurement data and the continuous dynamic measurement data;
• comparing the computed tool orientation to a planned tool orientation;
• and
• generating tool steering commands for guiding the drilling tool based on a deviation of the computed tool orientation from a planned trajectory of the drilling tool that is derived from the planned tool orientation.