Integrated GPS IMU
A stand alone navigation grade inertial measurement unit (IMU) seemed too expensive and heavy, but has a clear advantage by becoming more immune with combination technology GPS IMU. A magnetic compass based solution appears too problematic because of the calibration and the accuracy problem. A GPS system is a stand alone attitude works well for kinematic tests, but it needs a static accuracy of the baseline is too long will need to be portable. In the end, this hybrid system is well developed methods of optical and GPS.
What is GPS IMU
GPS IMU data integration technique used only the minimum amount of ground control points for fast acquisition parameters of high precision orientation. Furthermore, the results proved that this technique is efficient for the production of highly accurate maps with lower resources.
Inertial measurement unit (IMU) is a small device that can be directly mounted on the sensors such as LIDAR instruments and camera unit. This consists of accelerometers and gyros. IMU records the instrument orientation with respect to true north and true vertical and the output of accelerometer and gyro data as an additional level of speed and angle. Data provided by the IMU orientation when combined with GPS data that make GPS IMU effectively eliminate the need for aerial triangulation in the air and allows the scanner to be used as a mapping tool. Combination of these tools will provide inertial navigation system.
The system for determining the exterior orientation of images directly from the air became common. That orientation is determined by the integrated GPS (Global Positioning System) and IMU (Inertial Measurement Unit). With appropriate dynamics, both varieties (fiber optics and MEMS) of the IMU / GPS combination capable of providing at least one azimuth to within 0.06 second. Furthermore, the Allan variance analysis accurately predicted the azimuth drift performance of the IMU system. Additional testing showed azimuth FOG unit will be determined more quickly and more accurately with RTK data compared to the L1 data. Telescopic view proved to be a convenient way for cases of static testing. Long boom attitude GPS systems, plus the average, seem to give very good accuracy during dynamic testing.
After this GPS IMU article, Tracker GPS other GPS application you can read the article here.