Precision navigation for aerospace applications

Abstract

Navigation is important in a variety of aerospace applications, and commonly uses a blend of GPS and inertial sensors. In this thesis, a navigation system is designed, developed, and tested. Several alternatives are discussed, but the ultimate design is a loosely-coupled Extended Kalman Filter using rigid body dynamics as the process with a small angle linearization of quaternions. Simulations are run using real flight data. A bench top hardware prototype is tested. Results show good performance and give a variety of insights into the design of navigation systems. Special attention is given to convergence and the validity of linearization.