Attitude and heading measurements

Applications designed to determine the attitude of a ship for sonar orientation, for example, or that of an aircraft for the orientation of a measuring device, in the case of photogrammetry, or that of vehicles equipped with various devices (steerable antennas, cannon, etc.) have used GPS signals to measure attitude parameters (heading, roll, pitch).

This means of measurement, combined with the supply of the carrier's position, offers many economic and technical advantages.

The principle behind GPS attitude measurements is as follows. By setting up a rigid base of antennas whose phase center distances are known, and performing phase measurements, it is possible to determine the three angles, α, β, γ determining the orientation of this base in an orthonormal reference frame.

Although it is possible to work on the...