Highly Accurate Inclinometer Robust to Ultralow-Frequency Acceleration Disturbances and Applications to Autotracking Antenna Systems for Vessels

This paper describes a new inclinometer that compensates for ultralow-frequency acceleration disturbances. This inclinometer consists of a low-cost accelerometer, pendulum, and rotary encoder. The key feature of this inclinometer is the estimation method used to calculate the pendulum's inertial angle. We propose two algorithms to estimate the pendulum's angle. Algorithm I uses time-averaged accelerations and some assumptions. Algorithm II applies the pendulum's equation of motion. The results of simulations and experiments confirm that both algorithms can achieve highly accurate level/angle estimations under acceleration disturbance conditions. We apply this inclinometer to an autotracking antenna system for vessels. Time simulations verify its effectiveness.