1.

Introduction
In many aerospace systems a direction cosine matrix
(DCM) is used to transform vectorial quantities from one
Orthogonalization Cartesian coordinate system to another. The DCM, when
computed correctly, is an orthogonal matrix; however,
Techniques of a Direc- due to computer errors, such as roundoff and noncom-
mnutativity errors,' and errors introduced by the math-
tion Cosine Matrix ematical algorithm, the orthogonality property of the
DCM is destroyed. By applying a suitable orthogonaliza-
tion technique it is possible to restore the orthogonality
ITZHACK Y. BAR-ITZHACK property of the matrix and, at the same time, to reduce
Bellcom, Inc. the error in the computed DCM. On the other hand, it is
Washington, D.C. obvious that if the degradation of the computed DCM is
KENNETH A. FEGLEY, Senior Member, IEEE not accompanied by the destruction of the orthogonality
Moore School of Electrical Engineering property of the matrix, such a technique will not change
University of Pennsylvania the computed matrix at all.
Philadelphia, Pa. In this paper three new iterative orthogonalization
techniques are introduced which are useful in the case
where the computed DCM loses its orthogonality prop-
erty. While it has not been proven analytically that the
Abstract iterative procedures always converge or that the final
orthogonal matrix is closer to the correct matrix than the
Three orthogonalization techniques to correct errors in the computed original matrix, all the experimental results do confirm
direction cosine matrix are introduced. One of these techniques is a convergence and reduced error.
vectorial technique based on the fact that the three rows of a direction
cosine matrix constitute an orthonormal set of vectors in a three-
11. The Vectorial Technique
dimensional space. The other two iterative techniques are based on
the fact that the inverse and transpose of an orthogonal matrix are An orthogonal matrix Dor is defined by the following
equal. In computing a time-varying direction cosine matrix computa- equation2:
tional errors are accompanied by the loss of the orthogonality prop- DorDort = J
erty of the matrix. When one of these three techniques is used to re-
store the orthogonality of the matrix, the computational errors are where I is the identity (unity) matrix. Consider the rows
also corrected. These techniques were tested experimentally and the of the matrix D as vectors, namely a, b, j. Then
results, given in this paper, were compared with a method used by the r[a - adc a.b act]
Honeywell Corporation.
I
p6] LeaT [161 t' Ia = Lb dv b b b cX
which means that an orthogonal matrix represents three
mutually perpendicular vectors of unit length (ortho-
normal vectors). The matrix sought should have a set of
three vectors of unit length. For a right-hand orthogonal
matrix each vector is the cyclic cross product of the other
two. That these requirements are sufficient requirements
for D to be a right-hand orthogonal matrix is now proven.
Given
a X b =c (1)
b X c=a (2)
C X a =b (3)
Manuscript received February 14, 1969. 1 G. A. Harasty and F. G. Unger. "Computational requirements
for a digital analytic inertial platform system," 12th Ann. East Coast
This work was supported by NASA Grant NGr-39-010-029 and by Coiif. on Aerospace and Navigational Electronics, Conjf. Rec.
the U. S. Army Electronics Command under Contract DA-29-043- 2 L. D. Smith, Mathematical Methods for Scientists and Engi-
AMC-0241 1(E). izeers. New York: Dover, 1961.
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 o-#
o°I ao x0b

O
II

Oa, Ob
0° C

0°

°b = c X a

Fig. 1. Fig. 2.

Fig. 3.
and
4
Oc I
Ia =
lb| =
|c| =
1. (4) /
/

Combining (1) and (2), °a"I

c~= (b X c) X 6 = 62 - (6 c)b6.
From (3) ~ \s

and
b-c = 0 (=c b). (5)

Combining (2) and (3),

Because of the relations (4), (5), (6), and (7), the last
a = (c X a) X c = ct -(j a)j expressions reduce to the elements of the matrix L
(6)
.,. jc-a=O (=i)
.-. DD' = I.
Combining (1) and (3),
Thus D is an orthogonal matrix.
b(a X bb) X = a2b- (a-b)a The vectorial orthogonalization technique consists of
(7) repeated application of the following three steps.
aa.6- = O (=baa) Step 1: Given the set of vectors Oa, 0b, Oj, which are the
Now create rows of matrix OD, find (Fig. 1) the set

°a' = 0b X °c
D [f] Obf = °c x °a
oc' = Oct X 0b.
Step 2: Average the new set of vectors with the previous
DDt = La]t [b]t set (Fig. 2) and obtain
Oct /IOb O(f/

~aa.a6 a.c- Step 3: Normalize the last set of vectors (Fig. 3) to ob-
= L.ab-b. c tain a new set
_jc ac c- c.j Ia, lb I'j.

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 To check whether the new set is orthonormal, repeat 111. The First Inversion, Transposition,
step 1 and obtain the set d'/, lb', Y'e. If and Averaging Technique
la' 'a For the vectorial orthogonalization technique, the
lb! lb (8) matrix En which is obtained after the completion of the
second step in the nth iteration is given by (9).
adj D.-,' + D,,,- 1 Dn-1 IDn11i-i + Dn_l
the system is orthonormal, since
2 2
l =I'lb~ 1u> -l In the third step every row in the matrix En is normalized
anad separately.
When Dn 1 is orthogonal, DnI1 = 1 since the de-
aii-d~ ~ ~ 1/)' Ic/, X 'a{
( _1/
terminant of a right-hand orthogonal matrix equals one.
.1 ' 1(. X b. This points at another iterative method where the recur-
rence relation is
If this equality (8) has not been achieved, i.e., if at least {Dn,--l}ll---I+ D -1 1
one of the nine scalar equations corresponding to the three D7 (11)
2
vector equations does not hold, continue to step 2 and
proceed iteratively until equality is approached. Actually, The results of the experiments carried on when using
these equalities can never be achieved but rather the dif- this technique show that it is indeed as efficient as the
ferences between the right- and left-hand sides of the vectorial technique.
equations can be less than any desired number E which
was, in our case, 10-8. This number E should not be smaller IV. The Second Inversion, Transposition,
than the roundoff computer error accumulated in one and Averaging Technique
iteration.
This iterative procedure may be expressed algebraically. For an orthogonal matrix
It can be shown that the first two steps are equivalent to Dor-1 = Dort. (12)
findingC-) the matrix En:
Given a nonsingular matrix Do, one may transpose and
adj D.-l + D0 1 invert Do and expect the transposed and inverted matrices
En
2
(9) to be equal if Do is orthogonal, i.e., Do-1= Do'. When Do
is not orthogonal, the two matrices are not equal.
In the third step normalization inside the matrix is ac- However, if Do is almost orthogonal, Do-1 and Dot are
complished by treating each row separately. Denoting this close to each other since they have to be equal in the limit
operation as when Do becomes an orthogonal matrix Dor. It is reason-
En } normalized by rows, able to assume that the orthogonal matrix Dor lies some-
the three-step procedure is given by the algebraic iterative where between the original Do-1 and Dot (the original Do
recurrence relation is the matrix before it approaches Dor). It is further as-
sumed that this limit is the average of the two original
Dn Jadj'D0_1 + D0-l } normalized by rows, matrices, i.e.,
Dot + Do-1
n = 11 2, = Bo. (13)
9,
This orthogonalization subroutine was programmed in
FORTRAN IV. On an IBM-7040 the iteration time was If this last assumption is correct, then Bo is the inverse and
0.010283203 seconds. For e= 10-8 an average of five itera- transpose of the orthogonal matrix Dor. This can easily be
tions per orthogonalization cycle was required for con- checked by both inverting and transposing Bo. If the two
vergence. resultant matrices are equal, then Bo is really the inverse
This orthogonalization technique has the advantage of and transpose of an orthogonal matrix Dor. In other
equal treatment of all the vectors without preference to words, if
any one of them. It assures that D0, the matrix obtained Dor-' = BO
after n iterations, is an orthogonal matrix. It does not as- Dort = BO
sure that D, is the desired matrix. The closeness of the then
matrix D7, to the desired matrix was, however, investi-
gated experimentally and was found to be quite close, as B,--' Dor- Dor
-shown in Section V-A. B,t Dort t lDor.
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The matrix Dor is therefore an orthogonal matrix close to The second type of convergence occurs when (17) is
the matrix Do. used for the averaging action. In this case
If Dor is not orthogonal yet, then
Dn 1 D, t
Bot BO- 1 .Bn_-11 5 Bn-it
Using the same logic that led to the computation of Bo, but rather
one can find
DnB 1 = BDn =
Bot + Bo-1 Bn-l- 1 Bn- 1
(14) = = . . .

2 Bnt *-
Bn-1t = = .
Combining the two steps,
Here the iteration comes to a saturation point where,
[Dot + Do ]t [Dot + Do 1] though a convergence of the first type is not achieved,
the sequences of matrices achieve a certain final value. In
Di =- this kind of orthogonalization, a perfect orthogonaliza-
2 tion is not achieved since
l}t+D-
Do- {Do 4
{D0t tDo 1} 1 Dn-11£ Dnt.
4
However, the almost orthogonal matrix preserves much
or at the nth iteration, of the original value of the matrix before orthogonaliza-
tion started. This case was tested experimentally for
Dn
Dnl+ I Dn_-1}t + JDn-- + D._-,}-'
(15) p=0.01, 0.1, and 1.0.
4

When D- 1= D, or equivalently if D2_-1= D1= -t, V. Results of Experimental Tests of the Three
orthogonalization has been achieved. The question is Orthogonalization Techniques
whether the process converges and, if it does converge, In aerospace systems, one of the most common ways to
does it converge to the desired orthogonal matrix. This find the DCM is to solve the differential equation
question was answered experimentally. The results are
given in Section V-C. D= D= (18)
To find Dn, two matrices are averaged, i.e.,
where D is the direction cosine matrix relating, say, the
Bn2 1 + B,,-1 1 inertial coordinate system to the vehicular coordinate
DA system, and co is the angular velocity of the vehicular
2
coordinate system. Equation (18) is sometimes solved at a
Another averaging operation, which tends to preserve very high updating rate, using only the first-order terms
the previous matrix, is as follows: of the series expansion, i.e.,

Bn211 + qD.-1 + B2_-1 -, 0 < < 1. (16) D(t + At) = D(t)[I + AO] (19)
q where
2+q
Another possibility which tends to preserve the original 0 -AGz AtO
matrix is: AO AGz 0 A- x

-AO0 AG. 0

B2-jl + pDo + B2-,-'

0 < p < 1. (17) and AG,, AGy, and AGz are the outputs of the x, y, and z
2+p
gyros, respectively.
It was found that two types of convergence are possible. The use of (19) to solve (18) introduces computational
The first and most desired convergence is the one where errors in the computed DCM. The computational errors
are due to computer limitations, such as roundoff errors,
Dn-1 = Dnt. noncommutativity errors,1 and to the error introduced by
the mathematical algorithm, i.e., the fact that a first-order
This type of convergence assures that Dn is an orthog- rather than an infinite Taylor series expansion is used.
onal matrix and it occurs when (16) is used for the For a given angular velocity the DCM was computed
averaging operation. The cases where q= 0, 0.01, 0.1, and using the first-order Taylor algorithm as given in (19).
1.0 were tested experimentally. The DCM obtained as a result of this computation was
BAR-ITZHACK AND FEGLEY: ORTHOGONALIZATION TECHNIQUES OF DIRECTION COSINE MATRIX 801

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the uncorrected matrix. In order to evaluate the error, the Experiment 3:
correct matrix was computed. (When the axis of rotation Second-order angular rate: &2'=iO.8.t2+jO.6.t2+kO.O. At 0.04
of the vehicle does not vary, i.e., when the ratios between seconds.
After twelve revolutions (112=6.09204772 seconds, 156 passes):
the components of X- are constant, the DCM can be com-
puted analytically.) For simplicity, the initial DCM was AD
0.21638185E 10 -0.28850914E 10 -0.28520997E 10
chosen to be the identity matrix I; that is, the vehicular 0.28850916E 10 0.38467887E 10 0.38027995E 1-0
and reference coordinate systems were initially aligned. 0.28520996E 10 -0.38027995E 10 0.60106076E 10
Moreover, in order to avoid the computation of the cor- AD*
rect DCM, the times at which the vehicular coordinate -0. 10800940E 00 -0.11147877E-01 -0.45191645E 00
system finished a complete number of revolutions were 0.22644180E 00 -0. 12374964E 00 0.42533444E 00
0.39125038E 00 0.48172711E 00 -0.21586856E 00.
computed since at those times the correct DCM was again
the identity matrix which need not be computed. A check was made to determine whether the fact that
the correction was applied exactly at the time when D was
A. Experiments Performed with the Vectorial Technique supposed to be I was a reason for the positive results. It
In each of the following experiments the DCM was was found that this orthogonalization technique also
computed at the end of each interval At and the orthog- worked when the correction was applied at different times.
onalization technique was applied only at the end of each
even number of complete revolutions of the vehicular B. Experiments Performed with the First Inversion,
coordinate system. For example, in Experiment 1 the Transposition, and Averaging Technique
orthogonalization technique was applied the first time
after 316 computations (passes) of D. Since at the times The following four sets of experiments were carried out.
when the orthogonalization was applied, the direction 1) First type experiment-orthogonalization after each
cosine matrix should have been the identity matrix, the completion of two revolutions. The result was re-
error matrix before orthogonalization and the error ma- corded after 12 revolutions (1332 passes).
trix after orthogonalization were found by subtracting
the identity matrix from the uncorrected direction cosine A second kind of experiment was carried out in order to
matrix and from the orthogonalized direction cosine check whether the results obtained in the experiment of
matrix, respectively. the first type were dependent on the fact that the correc-
The following experiments also demonstrate the depen- tion was applied exactly at the time when D was supposed
dence of the rate of application of the correction on the to be the identity matrix.
nature of c-. Experiment 3 shows that for a fast growing c , 2) Second type experiment-orthogonalization after
the correction has to be applied frequently to keep the 200 n passes (n = 1, 2, 3, 4, 5). The result was recorded
error from growing large. after 1200 passes.
Experiment 1: Another alternative for correction is to start orthog-
Constant angular rate: co-iO.8+jO.6+kO.O. At=0.04 seconds. onalizing after every single pass, but in order to save time
After 12 revolutions (Ti2=75.39822292 seconds, 1891 passes): to run through one or two iterations only. This gave rise
Error matrix without orthogonalization to the next two sets of experiments.
AD 3) Third type experiment one orthogonalization after
0.12618919E 01 -0.16826555E 01 -0.10842521E 00
-0. 16826559E 01 0.22435312E 01 0.14456663E 00 every pass. The result was recorded after 12 revolu-
0.10842488E 00 0.14456679E 00 0.35055228E 01 tions.
Error matrix with orthogonalization 4) Fourth type experiment-two orthogonalization
iterations after every pass. The result was recorded
AD* after 12 revolutions.
-0.28944016E-03 -0.54701595E- -05 -0.24058077E-01
0. 77678924E-03 -0.51409006E- -03 0.32051484E-01
0.24045533E-01 -0.32060894E- -01 - 0.80338120E-03. In these experiments the angular velocity vector was
Experiment 2: cil .0
w + jO.8 + kO.6.
Constant angular rate with symmetrical components: co =1i.5
+jO.5-+kO.5. At =0.04 seconds. The time interval between the passes was At= 0.04 seconds
After 12 revolutioiis (T12=87.06236868 s-conds, 2184 passes):
real time.
AD In the uncorrected matrices computed for those co and
0.17913403E 01 -0.88777384E 00 -0.90358717E 00
-0.90358664E 00 0.17913403E 01 -0.88777358E 00 At, the direction cosine matrix error after 12 revolutions
-0.88777387E 01 -0.90358669E 00 -0.17913402E 01 was
AD* AD
-0.46044588E- 05 0.21467892E-02 -0.21421706 (02 0.36954811E 01 -0.26631203E 01 -0.25916636E 01
-0.21421905E- -02 -0.46044855E--05 0.21467515E -02 -0.32336711E 01 0.50122597E 01 -0. 12935781E 01
0.21467694E- -02 -0.21421527E-02 -0.45970082E-05. -0.18309285E 01 -0.22444971E 01 0.60441979E 01
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 and after 1200 passes, 4) For the fourth type experiment (two orthogonaliza-
AD tion iterations each pass):
0.84133090E 00 0.16837170E 01 -0.36471636E 01 AD*
-0.30298369E 01 0.11442075E 01 0.35241266E 01 -0.24375146E 00 0.65133635E 00 -0.59402756E-01
0.26375753E 01 -0.43317986E 01 0.13797772E 01. - 0. 16805104E 00 -0.71897589E 00 0.94482812E 00
0.63233455E 00 -0.70459423E 00 -0.67797518E 00.
The following were the results of the experiments of the
first, second, and third type, carried out for this technique. The results of the first and the second type experiments
show that the effectiveness of the technique when using
1) Experiment of the first type (orthogonalization after q = 0 in (16) varies, and it is a function of the matrix to be
every two revolutions): orthogonalized. The correction achieved after 1200 passes
'AD* when the technique was applied every 200 passes (ex-
- 0.16052872E-02 0.35253867E-01 -0.4432981lE-01
- 0.32685421E-01 - 0.21831804E-02 0.57386871E-01 periment of the second type) was very poor, whereas when
0.46256141E-01 -0.5584581GE-01 - 0. 26326627E-02. the technique was applied at the end of every two revolu-
2) Experiment of the second type (orthogonalization tions (which was less frequent than in the first case) the
every 200 passes): correction after 1332 passes (12 revolutions) was much
better (experiment of the first type). The third and fourth
AD*
-0. 24282131E-01 - 0.97799376E-02 0.53544324E-01 type experiments showed that though there was an im-
0.48663657E-01 - 0.33031402E-01 - 0. 37037678E-01 provement when two rather than one iteration was ap-
- 0. 24380609E-01 0. 60368099E-01 -0. 39836410E-01. plied every pass, the correction after 12 revolutions was
3) Experiment of the third type (one orthogonalization not satisfactory.
iteration each pass): These phenomena were found in most of the results for
AD*
which these experiments were carried out. The best result
-0. 16053468E-02 0.35253831E-01 -0.44331262E-01 for the experiment of the first type was achieved when
- 0. 32685300E-01 - 0. 21831840E-02 0. 57386987E-01 p=0.01 (17). In this case the error after 12 revolutions
0.46257590E-01 -0. 55845881E-01 -0. 26327297E-02. was
For comparison, the results of the experiment of the AD*
- 0.27965754E-03 0.31212233E-01 -0.41482517E-01
third type using the vectorial technique are as follows: - 0.30762724E-01 - 0. 37226826E-03 0. 51975188E-01
AD* 0.41809678E-01 - 0. 51712079E-01 - 0. 46043098E-03.
- 0. 16052872E-02 0. 35253983E-01 -0.44330330E-01
-0. 32684428E-01 - 0.21831542E-02 (A result of a similar quality was achieved for q = 0.)
0.57386460E-01
0.46256641E-01 -0. 55845378E-01 The only cases (of those checked) where the results of
- 0.26326552E-02.
The computation time of one iteration in this technique the experiment of the first type and the experiment of the
was 0.026 seconds. AD* is the DCM error upon applica- second type were both satisfactory were the cases where
tion of the orthogonalization technique. p=O.l and q=0.01.
For p = 0.1 the results were as follows.
C. Experiments Performed with the Second Inversion,
Transposition, and Averaging Technique 1) For the first type experiment:
The direction cosine matrix errors when orthogonaliza- AD*
0.92339069E-02 0. 27318170E-01 -0.51817673E-01
tion was used are given below. - 0. 42092580E-01 0.12558222E-01 0.53412052E-01
0. 40736730E-01 - 0. 62276792E-01 0. 15143648E-01.
For q=0.0 [see (16)] the results were as follows.
2) For the second type experiment:
1) For the first type experiment (orthogonalization AD*
after two revolutions): - 0.30896284E-01 0.42726398E-01 - 0. 54977164E-02
AD*
0.69939885E-02 -0.42176366E-01 0. 44989944E-01
-0. 10272115E-02 0. 42611681E-01 -0. 15353702E-01 -0. 50967306E-01.
0.27867287E-01 -0.35731847E-01
- 0.2622076BE-01 -0. 13912097E-02 0.45748734E-01
0.36957032E-01 - 0.44764821 E-02
For q=0.01, the results were as follows.
-0. 16872750E-02.
1) For the first type experiment:
2) For the second type experiment (orthogonalization
AD*
every 200 passes): -0. 14874190E-02 0.33682500E-01 -0.42872811E-01
AD* - 0. 31299643E-01 0. 20091534E-02 0. 55087079E-01
0.77531097E 00 0.91856606E 00 -0.25185354E 01 0.44642145E-01 0.53663239E-01 -0.24393201E-02.
-0.20409825E 01 0.88500302E 00 0.22703654E 01
0.16956723E 01 -G0.30089209E 01 0.11203815E 01. 2) For the second type experiment:
3) For the third type experiment (one orthogonaliza- AD*
-O0.34480378E-01 0. 36722377E-01 0. 85335672E-02
tion iteration each pass): 0.18473851E-01 - 0. 46899505E-01 0. 31754570E-01
AD* 0. 32864168E-01 0. 13516918E-02 -0. 56558736E-01.
-G0.24578464E 00 0.64326302E 00 - 0.13297500E 00
-0.47785154E-01 -0.74486725E 00 0.96637703E 00 The time required for one iteration (IBM 7040) is 0.060145
0.65488607E 00 -0.72202888E 00 -G0.77684418E 00. seconds.
BAR-ITZHACK AND FEGLEY: ORTHOGONALIZATION TECHNIQUES OF DIRECTION COSINE MATRIX 803

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VI. Conclusions where
Three techniques for correcting computer errors and E = DDt-I.
algorithm errors in the DCM have been presented. These A comparison of the four techniques is tabulated
techniques utilize the orthogonality property of the cor- below.
rect matrix. Their remarkable effectiveness was demon-
strated in the test results. It is interesting to compare them Type of Experiment Computer
with a technique used by Honeywell Corporation.3 The Technique Time per
Honeywell method is applied in the following way. Let First
Type
Second
Type
Third
Type
Pass
(seconds)
the uncorrected matrix be D, then the orthogonalized
Second successive in-
matrix Dor is given by version, transposition, All are very Poor 0.60
andaveraging(q=0.01) good. The
_ errors are very Very
D., o D [I -2E
= -E2
2I+ 2.4 2.4.61E3 +...] First successive inver-
sion, transposition,
and averaging
close in all of
the four tech-
niques. The
good, all
give al-
most the
These three
giveanalmost
identical error.
0.026
first one is a same The errors
little better. error, agree up to
Vectorial the fifth sig- 0.010
3Unpublished notes distributed at Strapdown Technology nificant digit
Training Course, September 20-22, 1966, held at the Honeywell (in last two,
Corporation, Military Products Group, Aeronautical Division, Series correction using up to sixth
3 terms (Honeywell) digit). 0.040
St. Petersburg, Fla.

Itzhack Y. Bar-Itzhack was born in Affula, Israel, on August 19, 1937. Following
service in the Israel Paratrooper Corps from 1955 to 1958, he attended the Technion-
Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, from which he received the B.Sc. and M.Sc. de-
grees in electrical engineering in 1961 and 1964, respectively. In 1964, he came to the
United States and received the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from the Uni-
versity of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, in 1968.
From 1961 to 1964, he was a Teaching and Research Assistant at the Technion-
Israel Institute of Technology in the field of automatic control. In 1963, he became an
Instructor of Electrical Engineering at the Polytechnic College in Haifa, Israel. In 1965
he became a Research Assistant at the Moore School of Electrical Engineering, Uni-
versity of Pennsylvania, where he did work on strapdown inertial navigation systems.
Since 1968 he has been a Member of the Technical Staff at Bellcom, Inc., Washington,
D. C.
Dr. Bar-Itzhack is a member of Sigma Xi.

Kenneth A. Fegley (M'48-SM'56) was born in Mont Clare, Pa., on February 14, 1923.
He received the B.S.E.E., M.S.E.E., and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Penn-
sylvania, Philadelphia, in 1947, 1950, and 1955, respectively.
Since 1947, except for the 1957-1958 academic year when he was Visiting Assistant
Professor of Electrical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
Cambridge, he has been at The Moore School of Electrical Engineering, University of
Pennsylvania, where he is Professor of Electrical Engineering. His research activities
have been in the areas of navigation systems and system optimization.
Dr. Fegley is a member of Tau Beta Pi, Eta Kappa Nu, Sigma Tau, Sigma Xi, and
the American Society for Engineering Education.
-804 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON AEROSPACE AND ELECTRONIC SYSTEMS SEPTEMBER 1969

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