Reducing the impact of rapid aircraft rotation on the measurement range and accuracy of inertial navigation system sensors

A method for reducing the impact of rapid aircraft rotation on the measurement range and accuracy of inertial navigation system sensors is presented. The use of a rotating platform is proposed. This platform possesses the properties of a physical pendulum and can freely rotate around an axis aligned with the aircraft’s roll axis. An inertial measurement unit (IMU) is placed on this platform to measure the inertial motion parameters of platform within the aircraft. To determine the inertial motion parameters of the aircraft, a sensor of the angular position of the aircraft’s body relative to the platform is used. The parameters of the platform's motion in inertial space are determined by the IMU. A significant difference in angular rotation speeds between the platform and the aircraft enables a reduction in the measurement range and an improvement in the accuracy of the inertial navigation system sensors. Modeling for various types of aircraft has confirmed the possibility of reducing the platform’s angular rotation speed in at least 10 times compared to the aircraft’s roll angular speed. This allows the measurement range of the roll angular rate sensor and its multiplicative error to be reduced proportionally. Additionally, it decreases errors caused by the cross-sensitivity of the two other angular rate sensors. The effectiveness of the method has been confirmed for a wide range of aircraft performing high-speed roll maneuvers.