Patent ID: 9476708
Filing Date: 2016-10-25
CPC Classification: E04G,G01C,G06F

Claim Text:
1. A method comprising determining an inclination of an object in a fixed frame of reference relative to a direction of the Earth's gravity field, wherein determining an inclination comprises supplying a plurality of first accelerometers rigidly linked by said object and distributed over a circle, wherein each of said accelerometers is suitable for measuring an acceleration in at least one measurement direction, wherein respective measurement directions of at least two of said accelerometers are non-collinear, wherein at least one of measurement direction of each of said accelerometers is defined by a radius linking said accelerometer to a center of said circle, measuring, by said accelerometers, of components of the Earth's gravity field along said measurement directions, said measurement providing, for each of said directions, a measurement value, m j for a measurement direction of index i, resolving the following matrix equation to determine an inclination Φ of said object relative to a frame of reference: wherein M is vector whose i wherein wherein the method further comprises determining a curvature of a structure, which includes linking said first accelerometers with a first rigid object fixed to a first place on said structure, providing second accelerometers linked by a second rigid object fixed to a second place on said structure, wherein said step of determining an inclination is carried out twice, once to determine an inclination of said first rigid object using said first accelerometers, and once more to determine an inclination of said second rigid object using said second accelerometers, and calculating a curvature of said structure based at least in part on said inclination of said first rigid object and inclination of said second rigid object.