New rapid transfer alignment method for SINS of airborne weapon systems

Transfer alignment is an effective alignment method for the strapdown inertial navigation system (SINS) of airborne weapon systems. The traditional transfer alignment methods for large misalignment angles alignment use nonlinear transfer alignment models and incorporate nonlinear filtering. A rapid transfer alignment method with linear models and linear filtering for arbitrary misalignment angles is presented. Through the attitude quaternion decomposition, the purpose of transfer alignment is converted to estimate a constant quaternion. Employing special manipulations on measurement equation, velocity and attitude linear measurement equations are derived. Then the linear transfer alignment model for arbitrary misalignment angles is built. An adaptive Kalman filter is developed to handle modeling errors of the measurement noise statistics. Simulation results show feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed method, which provides an alternative rapid transfer alignment method for airborne weapons.