WARSAW UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY

The Faculty of Power and Aeronautical Engineering

Division of Automation and Aeronautical Systems

AERONAUTICAL SYSTEMS 2

INSTRUCTIONS FOR CLASS

Attitude Determination using Inertial Sensors

Written by:
Przemysław Bibik, Ph.D.

WARSAW, 2010
SAFETY REGULATIONS

1. Before the class all students has to be familiar with „Safety Regulations” validated
in the Division.

2. In this class the most dangerous factors are:

- electrical power of the instruments and computers,
- heavy bench plate – do not move it!

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1. Purpose of the class

The purpose of the class is to acquaint students with construction and operation of
inertial measurement units used for determination of the aircraft attitude. Inertial
Navigation Systems’ algorithms will also be presented and tested by students.

2. Equipment used
2.1. IMU-ZAiOL-01

The ZAiOL-01 Inertial Measurement Unit (Fig. 1) is a result of research done at the
DAAS. It consists of three Muratta ENV-05F-03 gyroscopes, one 3-axial Analog Devices ADXL-
150-EM03 accelerometer and a temperature sensor. Sensors range are ±10g for
accelerometers and ±60deg/s for gyroscopes.

Accelerometer Temperature sensor Gyroscopes

Fig. 1 ZAiOL-01 IMU

The output signals are 7 voltages from all the sensors. These signals are then sampled
in a A/D card onboard the PC computer with frequency of 100Hz. All signals are graphically
presented on plots and recorded using LabVIEW application.

2.2. Microstrain 3DM-GX2 IMU

The MicroStrain 3DM-GX2™ IMU (Fig. 2) is a high-performance gyro enhanced
orientation sensor which utilizes miniature MEMS sensor technology. It combines a triaxial
accelerometer, triaxial gyro, triaxial magnetometer, temperature sensors, and an on-board
processor running a sophisticated sensor fusion algorithm. Sensors range are ±10g for
accelerometers and ±300deg/s for gyroscopes. In the test sample rate is 100Hz.

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 Fig. 2 Microstrain 3DM-GX2 IMU

Units’ system architecture is shown in Fig. 3.

Fig. 3 Microstrain 3DM-GX2 system architecture

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3. Accelerometers and gyroscopes scaling

Identify axes of the IMU coordinate system – for accelerometers and gyroscopes separately,
3.1. Accelerometers scaling
1) assume linear characteristic of the sensors:
ai AU Bi
i i , (1)
where:
a - acceleration [m/s2],
U - voltage [V],
A - coefficient of linear characteristic [m/(s2V)],
B - linear characteristic offset [m/s2],
i - accelerometer axis x, y or z .

2) measure two voltages corresponding to two known accelerations (e.g. gravity acc.)
3) calculate coefficients of the scaling equations

3.2. Gyroscopes scaling

1) assume linear characteristic of the sensors:
i ki Ui U0i , (2)
where:
- anrular velocity [deg/s],
U - voltage [V],
U 0i - rest voltage [V],
ki - coefficient of linear characteristic [deg/(sV)].
2) record 90 deg rotations about each axis of IMU,
3) use the following formula to calculate coefficient k :
t2

dt . (3)
t1

4. Initial IMU orientation

Plan and perform experiment to determine initial orientation of the IMU. Geometrical
equations for calculating the orientation are:
ax
0 arcsin , (4)
g
ay
0 arcsin . (5)
g cos 0
To minimize the error use mean values of the acceleration over few second. Check the
units of the input data and the resulting attitude angles!
Assume zero initial yaw angle – think why?

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5. Step rotations using rate table
1) put the IMU on the rate table at orientation shown by instructor,
2) start recording IMU data,
3) rotate the table in several steps to the angle given by instructor,
4) rotate the table back to initial position in same number of steps,
5) stop recording.

6. 3D free rotations
1) put IMU on the table in marked position,
2) start recording IMU data,
3) move the IMU freely in all directions,
4) put IMU in the starting position,
5) stop recording.

7. Algorithms for attitude determination

During laboratory two algorithms for attitude determination are presented. Both algorithms
use only angular velocities as inputs. Three attitude angles are the outputs.
7.1. Kinematic equations
System of attitude determination using kinematic equations diagram is presented in Fig. 4.

Giroscopes

Fig. 4. Diagram of attitude determination system using kinematic equations

IMU rates p, q, r are the inputs to the system. Next pseudo rates , , are calculated
using (6) and integrated to give attitude angles.

1 sin tg cos tg p
0 cos sin q
sin cos r
0
cos cos (6)

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7.2. Quaternions
Fig. 5 presents a block diagram of quaternion algorithm for calculation of attitude angles
basing on IMU measurements.

Fig. 5 INS quaternion algorithm block diagram

There are six steps in the algorithm.

Step 1
Knowing the initial attitude angles, the initial quaternion Qa i calculated as follows:
Qa qa 0 , qa1 , qa 2 , qa3
where:
0 0 0 0 0 0
qa 0 cos cos cos sin sin sin
2 2 2 2 2 2
0 0 0 0 0 0
qa1 cos cos sin sin sin cos
2 2 2 2 2 2
0 0 0 0 0 0
qa 2 cos sin cos sin cos sin
2 2 2 2 2 2
0 0 0 0 0 0
qa 3 sin cos cos cos sin sin
2 2 2 2 2 2
(7)

Step 2
Calculation of quaternion Qb representing rotation resulting from angular rates x , y , z in
time t .

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 Qb qb0 , qb1 , qb 2 , qb3 ,
where:

b
qb 0 cos
2
x b
qb1 sin
2
y b
qb 2 sin . (8)
2
z b
qb 3 sin
2
2 2 2
x y z

b t

Step 3
Calculation of the resulting quaternion Q

Q q0 , q1 , q2 , q3 Qa Qb
q0 qa 0 qb 0 qa1qb1 qa 2 qb 2 qa 3qb 3
q1 qa 0 qb1 qa1qb 0 qa 2 qb 3 qa 3qb 2
q2 qa 0 qb 2 qa1qb 3 qa 2 qb 0 qa 3 qb1
q3 qa 0 qb 3 qa1qb 2 qa 2 qb1 qa 3qb 0
(9)

Step 4
Calculation of the matrix of transformation CGH :

2 q0 2 q12 1 2 q1q2 q0 q3 2 q1q3 q0 q2

CGH 2 q1q2 q0 q3 2 q0 2 q2 2 1 2 q2 q3 q0 q1
2 q1q3 q0 q2 2 q2 q3 q0 q1 2 q0 2 q32 1
(10)

Step 5
Calculation of the angles of orientation:
arcsin C31
C32
arctan . (11)
C33
C21
arctan
C11
Step 6
Updating of the initial quaternion and time:

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Qa = Q
t t t (11)

8. REPORT
8.1. Scaling of the IMU sensors
1) Scaling equations for accelerometers (values, units).
2) Scaling equations for gyroscopes (values, units).
3) Remarks and conclusions.

8.2. Initial orientation

1) Present calculated angles.

8.3. Step rotation

1) Plot recorded angular velocities.
2) Plot orientation angles calculated using both 2 attitude algorithms.
3) Remarks and conclusions.

8.4. 3D rotation
1) Plot recorded angular velocities
2) Plot orientation angles calculated using both 2 attitude algorithms.
3) Remarks and conclusions.