Patent ID: 6588117
Filing Date: 2003-07-08
Classification: G01C

Abstract:
An apparatus for determining attitude and inclination postures of an aerodyne in a local geographical reference frame, comprising:a strap down gyrometer device comprising at least three gyrometers and configured to provide components of an instantaneous rotation vector of the aerodyne in a reference frame tied to the aerodyne; a calculator configured to calculate from the gyrometers a matrix of postures ({right arrow over (b)}1, {right arrow over (b)}2, {right arrow over (b)}3), said matrix comprising components of a vertically directed vector {right arrow over (U)}g in said reference frame tied to the aerodyne; accelerometers integral with said gyrometer device and configured to provide components of a vertically directed vector {right arrow over (U)}a representing a vertical direction in said reference frame tied to the aerodyne when the aerodyne is moving with an unaccelerated linear motion; a comparator configured to compare the vertically directed vector {right arrow over (U)}g provided by the gyrometer device to the vertically directed vector {right arrow over (U)}a provided by the accelerometers, and to produce an error signal to provide corrections for compensation of errors or drifts of the gyrometer device.