IMU / GPS Positioning System

Center for Intelligent Machines and Robotics

Rommel E. Mandapat

Project Goals
Develop

a low cost positioning system by

integrating a Honeywell Inertial Measurement
Unit with Novatel Differential GPS
Implement the IMU/GPS system on the
Navigation Test Vehicle using MAX
architecture
The system performance of the IMU/GPS will
be evaluated against that of the existing
MAPS/GPS

Motivation & Approach

For navigation of autonomous ground vehicle, must

have reliable real-time positioning system capable of
outputting data at over 10 Hz
Inertial Navigation Systems (INS) provide high data
rates but drift over time
DGPS provides high-accuracy position data but at
lower data rates (1-5 Hz). Also, GPS is susceptible
to data loss.
Integration of INS & GPS through an external Kalman
Filter will result in high-accuracy position, velocity
and attitude data at high rates

System Features
Honeywell

HG1700AG11 IMU
Novatel RT-20 differential GPS (DGPS)
PC-104 / Single Board computer platform
Primary and Secondary Kalman Filter (KF)
MAX message set
Data w/ 20 cm positional accuracy at 10 Hz

Honeywell HG1700AG11 IMU

Strapdown inertial system

Three Ring Laser Gyros (RLG) measure angular
changes about roll, pitch and yaw axes
Three single-axis Accelerometers measure
velocity changes in the vehicle x, y, and z
directions
Inertial message output at 100 Hz (, , , Vx,
Vy, Vz)
1 MHz output clock rate

Novatel RT-20 differential GPS

20-cm

CEP real-time kinematic accuracy in

differential mode (RT-20)
on-the-fly initialization
5 Hz RT-20 position maximum output rate
L1 C/A code
12 channel all in view parallel tracking
RS-232 connection

System Set-up
INS - to replace MAPS
Honeywell
HG1700AG11

IMU

Vx
Vy
Vz

SBC
100 Hz

Primary

KF
Align/Calib
Nav Sol
Primary CPU

Lat
Lon
Alt

Vn
Ve
Vd

20 Hz

PC104
Secondary

KF

Novatel RT-20
Secondary CPU

GPS

KF

Time
Lat
Lon
Alt

1-5 Hz

Time
Lat
Lon
Alt

Vn
Ve
Vd

10-15 Hz

To
MCU

Loosely Integrated System

KF-driving-KF set-up
Advantages
low-level modularity (use different inertial sensors)
ability to directly compare systems by mix-matching
components (MAPS/Ashtech vs IMU/Novatel)
faster development time

Disadvantages
more difficult to tune both filters since one affects the
other
need more computing power
more expensive

Inertial Navigation System (INS)

Inputs
raw inertial data from IMU
initial conditions for alignment (initial position from secondary
CPU, initial accelerations from IMU)

Processes

calibration (correctly interpret output of sensors)

alignment (initial position, velocity and attitude [PVA])
IMU data reception & averaging (from 100 Hz to 20 Hz)
navigation solution (current PVA at 20 Hz)
primary KF (smoothing through data loss)

Outputs
current PVA at 20 Hz in Local Geodetic Vehicle (LGV) coordinates

Primary CPU Software Setup

Using DOS
and DMA

20 Hz

To PROCMAN
of Secondary CPU

HOSTCOM
20 Hz
Primary KF

Alignment

20 Hz
Nav Sol

Calibration

20 Hz
IMU Com

Primary CPU Software Setup

Using Lynx OS
and data polling

20 Hz

To PROCMAN
of Secondary CPU

HOSTCOM
PROCMAN
600 Hz

20 Hz
20 Hz

IMU Com
Calibration

Align

Primary KF

Nav Sol

IMU Data Processing

ACB-104 serial communications card set-up to read in

SDLC messages on RS-422 interface line
Use Direct Memory Access (DMA) to read in data at 1 MHz
(1 Mbps)
DMA driver running in DOS environment
DMA - During a DMA cycle, the DMA controller chip is
driving the system bus, transferring data to/from memory
from/to an I/O device, bypassing the CPU, thus freeing it up
for other functions
IMU data will be averaged from 100 Hz to 20 Hz, in order to
lessen processing power needed to output navigation
solution and KF corrected PVA data

Navigation Solution

IMU input data (delta velocities and delta angles) are in

vehicle body coordinates
Input data also includes general and local gravity
components
Earth angular rotation rate is considered
WGS84 reference ellipsoid used to model earth
Inertial navigation is affected by Schuler frequency (time
required for one revolution around a circular orbit a
constant distance from the center of a spherical earth)
navigation solution computes present PVA data from past
values and converts them to LGV coordinates
navigation solution becomes model for primary KF

Inertial Navigation
Y

North

N = Nav-Frame
(X L , Y L , Z

North

Yaw
L)

Vehicle Centerline
Projection onto
Level Plane

PSIC

X B = Nose
X

(Z

= Up)

East

Y B = Right Wing

(Z

= Up)
Platform Heading = PSIC
= PSIC -

East

B = Body-Frame
(X B , Y B , Z

East

Z B = Belly

(Lat, Lon, Alt) = Position

HG1700
IMU

Navigation
Processor

n
Lat(0), Lon(0), Alt(0)
Initial
Conditions

100 Hz

- Align Mode
- Nav Mode

(VX, VY, VZ) = Velocity

(

, , ) = Euler Angles

Speed, Heading, Range, etc

, ... (other parameters)

IMU/GPS Integration

Inputs
current PVA at 20 Hz from INS
current position (LGV) and time from DGPS at 1 Hz

Processes
secondary KF performs smoothing through GPS loss
secondary KF also performs error bounding by
constantly updating navigation solution with accurate
GPS position data, thus eliminating IMU drift and need
for Zero Velocity Update (Zupt)

Outputs
ships out POS messages to MCU at 10-15 Hz

Secondary CPU Software Setup

To MCU
10-15 Hz
HOSTCOM
PROCMAN
20 Hz

10-15 Hz
1-5 Hz

INS Com

GPS Com

Secondary KF

Extended Kalman Filter

Estimator / Predictor
Evaluates a estimated trajectory close to the actual
trajectory using updated system variables
Define an State Error Vector

velocity errors
position errors
attitude errors
accelerometer & gyro calibration coeff
gravity

Propagate incremental and total state vector across

each integration step

IMU/GPS POS shelf

IMU
PC104

Freewave
radio

Novatel
RT-20
DC-DC
converter

MAPS/GPS POS shelf

Ashtech Z-12
GPS receiver

Honeywell
MAPS

PC104
Freewave
radio

NTV GPS Antenna Set-up

GPS Base Station Setup

IMU/GPS vs MAPS/GPS

Translate IMU/GPS position to MAPS/GPS reference

point on ATV (mule)
Test under ideal conditions
solid GPS satellite lock and radio link at all times
autonomous survey from 1-2 hours

Test under adverse conditions

temporarily withhold GPS data at specific areas on the field
completely withhold GPS data
manually introduce erroneous GPS data

Position data will be compared against post-processed

data from Ashtech receiver

Typical Comparison Survey

Area A

* arrows indicatdirection of sweep

Typical INS (MAPS) Drift

GPS Position Convergence

System Comparison
MAPS/GPS
7 cm

IMU/GPS
20 cm

Orientation accuracy

0.01 deg

0.05 deg

Velocity accuracy

0.001 m/s

0.005 m/s

Data Rate

10 Hz

15 Hz

Align time

8-10 min

TBD

Position accuracy (CEP)

Dimensions (L x W x H)
Weight
Price

0.7 x 0.8 x 0.6 m 0.7 x 0.8 x 0.2 m

~ 60 lbs

~ 15 lbs

$ 130,000

$ 40,000

Project Schedule
Aug

Sep

IMU Comm
Nav Sol / Align
Primary KF
GPS Integration
Testing
Final Report

To date finished
Projected completion

Oct

Nov Dec

Jan

Feb

Mar

Thank You