Latitude Determination on the Strapdown Inertial Technology

Abstract

A method for initial latitude determination is described. The method is assigned for the fixed base. Three gyroscopes and three accelerometers are used for initial latitude determination. Gyroscopes should have enough sensitivity to measure Earth rate value and accelerometers – to measure a gravity acceleration. It is shown that permanent base declination has no influence on the latitude determination. An error model of latitude determination method is developed. Experiments have demonstrated that using this method, the initial latitude can be received. The results of an experiment were conducted with Inertial Measurement Unit composed from precision accelerometers and ring laser gyroscopes. It is discussed that error of the latitude determination depends on errors of gyroscopes and accelerometers.