Patent ID: 6466871
Filing Date: 2002-10-15
Classification: G01C

Abstract:
A method for verifying the attitude of a compass, the compass comprising an attitude determining device, a tilt sensor and an inertial sensor, the method comprising the steps of:determining the attitude of said compass with reference to the earth's axis from said attitude determining device; and determining the tilt of said compass from said tilt sensor; determining the angular velocity of said compass from said inertial sensor; determining a predicted azimuth value from said angular velocity and said compass attitude; and comparing the azimuth of said compass, obtained from said step of determining the attitude of said compass with reference to the earth's axis, with the predicted azimuth value, and comparing the elevation of said compass, obtained from said step of determining the attitude of said compass with reference to the earth's axis with the elevation obtained from said step of determining the tilt, thereby verifying the attitude of said compass.