Durrant-Whyte, “Initial Calibration and Alignment of Low-Cost Inertial Navigation Units for Land Vehicle Applications

This work presents an efficient initial calibration and alignment algorithm for a six-degree of freedom inertial measurement unit (IMU) to be used in land vehicle applications. Error models for the gyros and accelerometers are presented with a study of their perturbation in trajectory prediction. A full inertial error model is also presented to determine the sensors needed for full observability of the different perturbation parameters. Finally, dead reckoning experimental results are presented based on the initial alignment and calibration parameters obtained with the algorithms presented. The results show that the algorithms proposed provide accurate position and velocity information for extended period of time using non-aided IMU