Calibration of Strapdown Magnetometers in Magnetic Field Domain

This paper presents an algorithm for calibrating strapdown magnetometers in the magnetic field domain. In contrast to the traditional method of compass swinging, which computes a series of heading correction parameters and thus is limited to use with two-axis systems, this algorithm estimates magnet...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of aerospace engineering 2006-04, Vol.19 (2), p.87-102
Main Authors: Gebre-Egziabher, Demoz, Elkaim, Gabriel H, David Powell, J, Parkinson, Bradford W
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
TECHNICAL PAPERS
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:This paper presents an algorithm for calibrating strapdown magnetometers in the magnetic field domain. In contrast to the traditional method of compass swinging, which computes a series of heading correction parameters and thus is limited to use with two-axis systems, this algorithm estimates magnetometer output errors directly. Therefore, this new algorithm can be used to calibrate a full three-axis magnetometer triad. The calibration algorithm uses an iterated, batch least-squares estimator that is initialized using a two-step nonlinear estimator. The algorithm is simulated to validate convergence characteristics and further validated on experimental data collected using a magnetometer triad. It is shown that the postcalibration residuals are small and result in a system with heading errors on the order of 1 to 2 degrees .
ISSN:0893-1321
1943-5525
DOI:10.1061/(ASCE)0893-1321(2006)19:2(87)