Navigation System Heading and Position Accuracy Improvement through GPS and INS Data Fusion

Commercial navigation systems currently in use have reduced position and heading error but are usually quite expensive. It is proposed that extended Kalman filter (EKF) and Unscented Kalman Filter (UKF) be used in the integration of a global positioning system (GPS) with an inertial navigation system (INS). GPS and INS individually exhibit large errors but they do complement each other by maximizing the advantage of each in calculating the heading angle and position through EKF and UKF. The proposed method was tested using low cost GPS, a cheap electronic compass (EC), and an inertial management unit (IMU) which provided accurate heading and position information, verifying the efficacy of the proposed algorithm.