PAF- KARACHI INSTITUTE OF ECONOMICS &

TECHNOLOGY

Department of Electronics & Telecommunication Engineering

LAB -WORK

Guidance, Navigation and Control

Lab Exercise #3: Familiarization and Development of Strapdown

Navigation Platform

S.No Student Name Class ID Student ID Marks

DATE OF EXPERIMENT: __________________________________

Signature of Faculty/Lab Engineer: ___________________________________________

Remarks:
__________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________

General Guidelines

-Carefully note that this lab manual consists of three sections; one pre-lab section and the other in-lab section. The pre-lab
section must be solved and filled in before coming to the lab. The concepts in the pre-lab section would be necessarily required
to solve and perform the experiments in the in-lab section.
- Each lab session would start with a brief quiz from the previous labs. Please remember that these lab exercises are based on
a gradual and incremental of navigation concepts, filters, algorithms and design. Therefore, it is imperative not to forget any
of the previous labs while performing the current lab.
- Lab sessions must be completed within the allocated 3 hours and the filled manual must be submitted back to the lab-engineer
before leaving the lab. This is obligatory. In case of any issues in not being able to complete the lab and submit the manual in
the allocated time, the issue must be communicated to the lab-engineer before or during the lab asking for an exemption.
-Students who were absent in this lab must contact the lab-engineer with a rational reason of their absence and must conduct
the lab themselves and submit the manual within one-week after the lab.
Objective

To study the differences between stable platform and strapdown platform and develop a
physical model of strap-down platform for experiment of lab 7, 8 and 9.

Theoretical Framework

Inertial Navigation

Inertial navigation is a self-contained navigation technique in which measurements provided

by accelerometers and gyroscopes are used to track the position and orientation of an object
relative to a known starting point, orientation and velocity. Inertial measurement units (IMUs)
typically contains three orthogonal rate-gyroscopes and three orthogonal accelerometers,
measuring angular velocity and linear acceleration respectively. By processing signals from
these devices it is possible to track the position and orientation of a device,

Inertial navigation is used in a wide range of applications including the navigation of aircraft,
tactical and strategic missiles, spacecraft, submarines and ships. Recent advances in the
construction of MEMS devices have made it possible to manufacture small and light inertial
navigation systems. These advances have widened the range of possible applications to include
areas such as human and animal motion capture.

Nearly all IMUs fall into one of the two categories outlined below. The difference between the
two categories is the frame of reference in which the rate-gyroscopes and accelerometers
operate. Throughout this report we will refer to the navigation systems frame of reference as
the body frame and to the frame of reference in which we are navigating as the global frame,
as shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1. The body and global frames of reference.

Stable Platform Systems
In stable platform type systems the inertial sensors are mounted on a platform which is isolated
from any external rotational motion. In other words the platform is held in alignment with the
global frame. This is achieved by mounting the platform using gimbals (frames) which allow
the platform freedom in all three axes, as shown in Figure 2. The platform mounted gyroscopes
detect any platform rotations. These signals are fed back to torque motors which rotate the
gimbals in order to cancel out such rotations, hence keeping the platform aligned with the
global frame.

Figure 2. A stable platform IMU.

To track the orientation of the device the angles between adjacent gimbals can be read using
angle pick-offs. To calculate the position of the device the signals from the platform mounted
accelerometers are double integrated. Note that it is necessary to subtract acceleration due to
gravity from the vertical channel before performing the integration. The stable platform inertial
navigation algorithm is shown in Figure 3.

Figure 3. Stable platform inertial navigation algorithm.

Strapdown Systems
In strapdown systems the inertial sensors are mounted rigidly onto the device, and therefore
output quantities measured in the body frame rather than the global frame. To keep track of
orientation the signals from the rate gyroscopes are integrated. To track position the three
accelerometer signals are resolved into global coordinates using the known orientation, as
determined by the integration of the gyro signals. The global acceleration signals are then
integrated as in the stable platform algorithm. This procedure is shown in Figure 4.

Figure 4strapdown platform navigation algorithm

Stable platform and strapdown systems are both based on the same underlying principles.
Strapdown systems have reduced mechanical complexity and tend to be physically smaller
than stable platform systems. These benefits are achieved at the cost of increased
computational complexity. As the cost of computation has decreased strapdown systems have
become the dominant type of INS. Figure 5 shows a complete navigation algorithm which is
we able to develop in the end of 8th lab INSHALLAH.

Figure 5 Complete INS algorithm

Experiment:

1. Build an strapdown platform system to conduct further labs on that system :

a) System is rigid
b) Calibrated with degrees marks
c) Can be fixed at any given orientation
d) Platform minimum diameter 8 inch
e) pointer on each degree of freedom to point its degree angle
f) look attractive (extra marks)
g) demonstration in next lab