Application of Kalman Filtering to Measuring Gyro Drift

In recent years the development of high speed, airborne, digital computers has made possible the application of Kalman Filtering to Inertial Navigation. The theory of Kalman Filtering has been widely written up in academic papers and text books. The application of this theory has been described in technical journals but only as suggested applications or preliminary investigations of specific applications. The purpose of this thesis then is to extend these concepts by describing in detail a specific application of Kalman Filtering to the measurement of gyro drift in an Inertial Navigation System. The mechanization of this particular filter involves modifications to the basic Kalman Filter so as to reduce the computational requirements of the airborne computer. These modifications are described in detail herein. Included with the mechanization of the modified filter is a very simple and straight forward derivation of the equations and computational procedures of the basic Kalman Filter