Navigation Basics

Discussed in class

By
Kamlesh Kumar
Department of Aeronautical
MIT MANIPAL
 ❖Categories of Navigation

Categories of Navigation Systems:-

❑ Positioning Systems:-Kind of this systems as follows

❖ Radio System

❖ Celestial System

❖ Mapping Navigation Systems

❑ Dead-Reckoning Systems:-Can be it measured as

following kinds
❖ Aircraft Heading ( Either Speed or Acceleration)

❖ Emissions from continuous-wave radio stations

1. Positioning Systems
➢ Positioning system measures the state vector without
regard to the path traveled by the vehicle in the past.

Radio Systems
➢ They consists of a network of transmitters (sometimes
also receivers) on the ground, in satellites, or on the
other vehicle.
➢ The airborne navigation set detects the transmissions
and computes its position relatives to the known
positions of the stations in the navigation coordinates
frame.
➢ The aircraft’s velocity is measured from the Doppler
shift of the transmissions or from a sequence of
position measurements
Celestial Systems
➢ They compute position by measuring the elevation and
azimuth angle of celestial bodies relative to the
navigation coordinate frame at precisely known times.
Mappings Navigation Systems

➢ They observe images of the ground, profiles of altitudes, or

External features.
2. Dead-Reckoning Systems

➢ It derives their sate vectors from a continuous series of

measurements relatives to an initial position.

❖ Aircraft Heading and Either Speed or

Acceleration

➢ Heading-Measured By- Gyroscopes or Magnetic Compass

➢ Speed -Measured By- Air Data Sensors or Doppler Radar
➢ Vector Acceleration-Measured By- Inertial Sensors

❖ Emissions from continuous-wave radio stations

➢ They creates ambiguous “lanes” that must be counted to keep
track of coarse position. Their phase is measured for fine
positioning.
➢ They must be reinitialized after any gap in radio coverage.
➢ DR navigation is the process of continually computing a
vehicle’s position as the journey proceeds from a knowledge of
the starting point position and the vehicle’s speed and direction
of motion and the time elapsed.

➢ It is essentially an incremental process of continually estimating

the changes that have occurred and updating the present
position estimate accordingly.

➢ The main types of airborne DR navigation systems are

categorised below on the basis of the means used to derive the
velocity components of the aircraft.
Air data based DR navigation

Doppler/heading reference systems

Inertial navigation systems.

Doppler inertial navigation systems

1. Air data based DR navigation. The basic information
used comprises the true airspeed (from the air data
computer) with wind speed and direction (forecast or
estimated) and the aircraft heading from the Attitude
Heading Reference System, (AHRS).

2. Doppler/heading reference systems. These use a

Doppler radar velocity sensor system to measure the
aircraft’s ground speed and drift angle. The aircraft heading
is provided by the AHRS.

3. Inertial navigation systems. These derive the aircraft’s

velocity components by integrating the horizontal
components of the aircraft’s acceleration with respect to
time. These components are computed from the outputs of
very high accuracy gyroscopes and accelerometers which
measure the aircraft’s angular and linear motion.
4. Doppler inertial navigation systems. These combine
the Doppler and INS outputs, generally by means of a
Kalman filter, to achieve increased DR navigation accuracy.
➢ The primary DR navigation system which is also the
primary source of very accurate attitude and heading
information is the Inertial Navigation System (INS).

➢ The term Inertial Reference System (IRS), is also used in

civil aircraft.

➢ The IRS can have a lower inertial navigation accuracy of

up to 4 NM/hour error compared with 1 to 2 NM/hour for
a typical INS.

➢ The attitude and heading accuracy, however, is still very

high.
➢ A fundamental feature of INS/IRS systems is that they
are Schuler tuned systems.

➢ This is achieved by precise feedback of the components

of the aircraft’s velocity in the local level plane so that
the system tracks the local vertical as the aircraft moves
over the Earth’s surface.

➢ Schuler tuning requires very accurate gyros and

accelerometers and precise computing.
➢ The INS/IRS also derives the aircraft’s velocity vector in
conjunction with the Air Data System which provides
barometric height information.

➢ This is of great assistance to the pilot when displayed on

the HUD.

➢ The strapdown configuration of the gyros and

accelerometers, which is now used in modern systems,
enables the INS/IRS to provide body angular rates and
linear acceleration components for the flight control
system.

➢ The INS/IRS is thus a key aircraft state sensor for both

military and civil aircraft.
INERTIAL REFERENCE SYSTEM

➢ The laser gyro has caused a technological

revolution in the design of inertial reference and
navigation systems.

➢ This solid state high precision ,angular rate sensor

is ideally suited for highly reliable strap down
system configuration.

➢ It eliminates the need for gimbals, bearings,

torque motors, and other moving parts, and
consequently changes the system operation
considerably from conventional inertial navigation
systems
INERTIAL NAVIGATION

➢ Inertial Navigation means the determination of a

vehicles location without the aid of external references.

➢ Strap down inertial navigation goes a step further by

enabling navigation without the use of a mechanically
stabilised platform.

➢ This has been achieved through the advent of laser

gyros / rate sensors and powerful, high speed
microprocessors.

➢ The laser gyros allow a micro processor to maintain a

stable platform mathematically, rather than mechanically
Inertial Measurement Unit

➢ The arrangement of the accelerometers and gyroscopes is generally

the same in all INS used for navigation.

➢ The common approach is to use three single axis accelerometers and

gyroscopes, with an accelerometer and gyroscope placed with its
input axis along each of three mutually orthogonal axes.

➢ The collection of sensors used is referred to as the instrument cluster.

➢ The surface on which the instrument cluster is placed is referred to

as the platform.
➢ The use of a platform is common to all INS and the separation of
configurations is found through how the platform is used in the
determination of position.

➢ The platform is normally either suspended in a set of gimbals,

referred to as a gimballed or stabilized platform system, or placed
directly upon the body to which it is to reference, known as a
strapdown or analytical platform system.

➢ The platform system and its housing are referred to as the IMU.

➢ Each IMU has differing methods of sensing rotations and

correspondingly the computation process is different in each
circumstance.

➢ The use of accelerometers is common in both circumstances

however the function of gyroscopes is different in gimballed and
strapdown configurations.
➢ Gimballed platforms require numerous parts in order to maintain the
platform in the correct orientation.

➢ The major components required include:

o The instrument cluster – held in a fixed orientation.

o The gimbals – used as the divider between the instrument
cluster and the case to which motion is referenced. The
gimbal has two orthogonal pivot axes which attach to
outward and inward pivot axes.

o The bearings – used to allow the motion of the gimbals,

found at the pivot axes of all gimbals.

o The gimbal motors – used to help maintain the orientation

of the platform. There exists one motor for each gimbal
which is located next to the bearing.

o The pickoffs – used to measure the angular rates of the

gimbals. The pickoffs are located at the opposite pivot
point to the gimbal motor.
➢ Attitude Heading Reference Systems are of lower
accuracy than the INS/IRS and generally provide a
secondary source of attitude and heading information.

➢ They use less accurate but lower cost gyros and

accelerometers which are insufficiently accurate for
Schuler tuning to be effective.
The main position fixing navigation systems in current use are
briefly summarised below.

(1) Range and Bearing (‘R/θ’) Radio Navigation Aids

These comprise VOR/DME and TACAN.

VOR (VHF omni-directional range) is an internationally

designated shortdistance radio navigation aid and is an
integral part of Air Traffic Control procedures.
➢ DME (distance measuring equipment) is co-located with
VOR and provides the distance from an aircraft to the
DME transmitter.

➢ TACAN is the primary tactical air navigation system for

the military services of the USA and NATO countries.

➢ It is often co-located with civil VOR stations, such

combined facilities being known as VORTAC stations.
(2) Satellite Navigation Systems – GPS (Global Position System)

➢ GPS is the most important and accurate position fixing system

developed to date.

➢ Itis being used by every type of vehicle – aircraft – ships –

land vehicles.

➢ Civilian use is now very widespread, for example, GPS

receivers are fitted in very many cars, vans and lorries and
they are readily affordable for ramblers.

➢ The equipment required by the GPS user is entirely passive

and requires a GPS receiver only.

➢ The use of GPS in conjunction with a ground station system

which transmits corrections to the user system, known as
Differential GPS, has enabled a positional accuracy of 1 m to
be achieved.
(3) Terrain Reference Navigation (TRN) Systems

➢ Terrain reference navigation systems derive the vehicle’s

position by correlating the terrain measurements made
by a sensor in the vehicle with the known terrain feature
data in the vicinity of the DR estimated position.

➢ The terrain feature data is obtained from a stored digital

map database.
@2013 Kamlesh Kumar 25