Introduction

Abstract

An inertial navigation system (INS) is a type of navigation system that can function independently without any outside information. The traditional INS measure a vehicle’s linear motion and angular motion by gyroscopes and accelerometers, and then resolves the vehicle’s attitude and position. The primary inertial units of the INS include the gyroscope and accelerometer. The gyroscope is used to measure the vehicle’s angular motion, and the accelerometer is used to measure the vehicle’s linear motion. As the inertial navigation technology develops, researchers find that a vehicle’s angular motion can also be measured via lever-arm effect sensed by an accelerometer. As far as the volume and cost are concerned, the accelerometer is superior to the gyroscope. So, gyroscope-free inertial navigation technology comes as a research hotspot since the late 20′th century. Both linear motion and angular motion of a vehicle are measured by acclerometers at the same time in a gyroscope-free inertial navigation system (GFINS).