On inertial navigation and attitude initialization in polar areas

Abstract

Abstract Inertial navigation and attitude initialization in polar areas become a hot topic in recent years in the navigation community, as the widely-used navigation mechanization of the local level frame encounters the inherent singularity when the latitude approaches 90°. Great endeavors have been devoted to devising novel navigation mechanizations such as the grid or transversal frames. This paper highlights the fact that the common Earth-frame mechanization is sufficiently good to handle the singularity problem in polar areas. Simulation results are reported to demonstrate the singularity problem and the effectiveness of the Earth-frame mechanization.

Topics & Concepts