Nomenclature#
These are the most common definitions in AHRS:
Altitude is the distance along the ellipsoidal normal between the surface of the ellipsoid and a point of interest above it.
Attitude is the orientation of a vehicle or other object relative to a known reference, which could be a frame, the horizon, a direction of motion, or even another object. The heading of the object cn be omitted in the definition of its attitude.
Body Frame matches the frame of the platform the sensors are mounted on. The origin coincides with the center of gravity of the platform. The Y-axis points forward of the moving platform, while the Z-axis points upwards. The X-axis completes the right-hand system pointing in traverse direction. Some literature names it b-frame.
Earth-Centered Earth-Fixed Frame (ECEF) has its origin and z-axis aligned to the ECI frame, but rotates along with the Earth. Therefore is Earth-Fixed. Some literature names it e-frame.
Earth-Centered Inertial Frame (ECI) has the origin at the center of mass of the Earth. The X-axis points towards the vernal equinox in the equatorial plane. The Z-axis is along the rotation axis of the Earth. The y-axis completes with a right-hand system. Some literature names it i-frame.
East-North-Up Frame (ENU) is an LLF with the X-axis pointing East, Y-axis pointing to the true North, and the Z-axis completes a right-hand system pointing up (away from Earth.)
Elevation is the height above or below a fixed reference point. In Geography, it is most commonly the height of a terrain above (or below) the sea level.
Geodetic (also ellipsoidal or curvilinear) coordinates in the ECEF are defined for positioning elements on or near the Earth.
Inertial Measurement Unit is a device fitted with inertial sensors (accelerometers and gyroscopes) measuring a body’s specific force and angular rate.
Inertial Navigation System is a navigation architecture consisting of an IMU, and a computer to continuously estimate a device’s positoin and orientation using dead reckoning.
Latitude is the angle in the meridian plane from the equatorial plane to the ellipsoidal normal at he point of interest.
Local-Level Frame (LLF) is the local navigation frame, whose origin coincides with the sensor frame. Some literature names it l-frame.
Longitude is the angle in the equatorial plane from the prime meridian to the projection of the point of interest onto the equatorial plane.
Meridian is the half of a creat circle on Earth’s surface terminated by the poles.
North-East-Down Frame (NED) is an LLF with the X-axis pointing to the true North, Y-axis pointing East, and the Z-axis completing the right-hand system pointing Down.
Orientation is the rotation needed to place an object from a reference placement to its current placement, neglecting its position or location in space.
Rectangular coordinates in the ECEF represent position of a point with its x, y, and z vector components aligned parallel to the corresponding e-frame axes.
Strapdown INS has accelerometers rigidly mounted parallel to the body axes of the vehicle. In this application the gyroscopes do not provide a stable platform; they are instead used to sense the turning rates of the craft.
Abbreviations#
AACGM |
Altitude-Adjusted Corrected Geomagnetic Coordinates |
ACARE |
Advisory Council for Aeronautics Research in Europe |
ACAS |
Airborne Collision Avoidance System |
ACC |
Adapttive Cruise Control |
Ack |
Acknowledge |
ADC |
Analog-to-Digital Converter |
ADCS |
Active Directed Control System |
ADI |
Attitude Director Indicator |
ADIRS |
Air Data Inertial Reference System |
ADIRU |
Air Data Inertial Reference Unit |
ADEV |
Allan deviation |
AGNSSS |
Assisted Global Navigation Satellite System |
AGPS |
Assisted Global Positioning System |
AHRS |
Attitude and Heading Reference System |
AoA |
Angle of Arrival |
AoD |
Angle of Departure |
AR |
Angular Rate |
asl |
above sea level |
atan |
Arctangent |
atan2 |
Arctangent (four quadrants) |
AQUA |
Algebraic Quaternion Algorithm |
AU |
Astronomical Unit |
AUV |
Autonomous Underwater Vehicle |
AVAR |
Allan variance |
AVCS |
Autonomous Vehicle Control System |
AVG |
Autonomous Vehicle Guidance |
AVLS |
Autonomous Vehicle Localization System |
AWGN |
Additive White Gaussian Noise |
az |
Azimuth |
B2B |
Business to Business |
BIH |
Bureau International de l’Heure |
BIIT |
Built-in Integrity Test |
BLE |
Bluetooth Low Energy |
BLUE |
Best Linear Unbiased Estimate |
BPF |
Band-Pass Filter |
CAN |
Controller Area Network |
CAS |
Collision Avoidance System |
CD |
Centered Dipole |
CDI |
Course Deviation Indicator |
CG |
Center of Gravity |
CGM |
Corrected Geomagnetic Coordinates |
CIRAS |
Coriolis Inertial Rate and Acceleration Sensor |
CIRS |
Conventional Inertial Reference System |
CLIK |
Closed-Loop Inverse Kinematics |
CRS |
Conventional Celestial Reference System |
CTP |
Conventional Terrestrial Pole |
CTRS |
Conventional Terrestrial Reference System |
DAAS |
Data as a Service |
DAC |
Digital-to-Analog Converter |
dB |
Decibel |
DCM |
Direction Cosine Matrix |
Dec |
Declination |
deg |
Degrees |
Dev |
Deviation |
DGPS |
Differential Global Positioning System |
DME |
Distance Measuring Equipment |
DoD |
Department of Defense |
DoF |
Degrees of Freedom |
dps |
Degrees per Second |
DR |
Dead Reckoning |
DRS |
Dead Reckoning System |
DSP |
Digital Signal Processing |
ECDIS |
Electronic Chart Display and Information Systems |
ECEF |
Earth-Centered Earth-Fixed |
ECIF |
Earth-Centered Inertial Frame |
ECU |
Electronic Control Unit |
EDA |
European Defence Agency |
EEA |
European Economic Area |
EFCS |
Electronic Flight Control System |
EGM |
Earth Gravitational Model |
EGNOS |
European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service |
EGNSS |
Enhanced GNSS |
EGPS |
Enhanced Global Positioning System |
EGR |
Embedded Global Positioning System Receiver |
EIR |
Earth Inertial Reference |
EKF |
Extended Kalman Filter |
EMI |
Electromagnetic Interference |
ENU |
East-North-Up |
ENS |
Electronic Navigation System |
ESA |
European Space Agency |
ETRS |
European Terrestrial Reference System |
EU |
European Union |
FAA |
Federal Aviation Administration |
FADEC |
Full Authority Digital Engine Controller |
FMS |
Flight Management System |
GAGAN |
GPS and Geo Augmented Navigation |
GGF |
Global Earth-fixed frame with one axis aligned with gravity |
GIS |
Geographic Information System |
GNSS |
Global Navigation Satellite System |
GPS |
Global Positioning System |
GTRF |
Galileo Terrestrial Reference Frame |
gyro |
Gyroscope |
HIL |
Hardware-in-the-Loop |
HMI |
Human-Machine Interface |
HP |
High Performance |
HPF |
High-Pass Filter |
IAG |
International Association of Geodesy |
IATA |
International Air Transport Association |
IAU |
International Astronomical Union |
IC |
Integrated Circuit |
ICAO |
International Civil Aviation Organization |
ICRF |
International Celestial Reference Frame |
ICRS |
International Celestial Reference System |
IERS |
International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service |
IFR |
Instrument Flight Rules |
IGRF |
International Geomagnetic Reference Field |
ILS |
Instrument landing system |
IMC |
Intermodule Communication |
IMU |
Inertial Measurement Unit |
INS |
Inertial Navigation System |
INU |
Inertial Navigation Unit |
ITRF |
International Terrestrial Reference Frame |
ITRS |
International Terrestrial Reference System |
ITS |
Intelligent Transportation Systems |
JPALS |
Joint Precision Approach and Landing System |
KF |
Kalman Filter |
LAAS |
Local Area Augmentation System |
lat |
Latitude |
LERP |
Linear Interpolation |
LLF |
Local-level Frame |
LNAV |
Lateral Navigation |
lon |
Longitude |
LORAN |
Long-range radio navigation |
LPF |
Low-Pass Filter |
LPV |
Localizer Performance with Vertical Guidance |
LQR |
Linear Quadratic Regulator |
MagCal |
Magnetic Calibration |
MANET |
Mobile ad hoc Network |
MARG |
Magnetism, Angular Rate, and Gravity |
MCU |
Micro-Controller Unit |
MEMS |
Micro-electromechanical Systems |
MHIL |
Micro Hardware-in-the-Loop |
MHW |
Mean High Water |
MIMU |
Magnetic and Inertial Measurement Unit |
MIS |
Management information system |
MLF |
Marker-cluster Local Frame |
MLS |
Microwave landing system |
MLT |
Magnetic Local Time |
mocap |
Motion Capture |
MOEMS |
Micro-opto Electromechanical Systems |
MST |
Microsystem Technology |
μC |
Microcontroller |
NAD |
North American Datum |
NASA |
National Aeronautics and Space Administration |
NDB |
Non-directional beacon |
NED |
North-East-Down |
NSE |
Navigation System Error |
PBN |
Performance-Based Navigation |
PDR |
Pedestrian Dead Reckoning |
PF |
Particle Filtering |
PIGA |
Pendulous Integrating Gyroscopic Accelerometer |
PLC |
Programmable Logic Controller |
PUMA |
Programmable Universal Manipulation Arm |
QD |
Quasi-Dipole |
QUEST |
Quaternion Estimator |
RHR |
Right-Hand Rule |
RMS |
Root Mean Square |
RNAV |
Area Navigation |
RTU |
Remote Terminal Unit |
SBAS |
Satellite-Based Augmentation System |
SBC |
Single Board Computer |
SCADA |
System Control and Data Acquisition |
SCI |
Serial Communications Interface |
SI |
Système International d’unités |
SLERP |
Spherical Linear Interpolation |
SOA |
Silicon Oscillating Accelerometer |
SPI |
Serial Peripheral Interface |
SVD |
Singular Value Decomposition |
TACAN |
Tactical Air Navigation System |
TAWS |
Terrain Awareness and Warning System |
TFG |
Turning Fork Gyroscope |
TLS |
Transponder landing system |
TSE |
Total System Error |
UART |
Universal Asynchronous Receiver / Transmitter |
UAV |
Unmanned Aerial Vehicle |
UKF |
Unscented Kalman Filter |
UT |
Universal Time |
V2V |
Vehicle-to-Vehicle |
VANET |
Vehicular ad hoc Network |
VFR |
Visual Flight Rules |
VNAV |
Vertical Navigation |
VOR |
Very High Frequency Omnidirectional Radio Range |
WAAS |
Wide Area Augmentation System |
WGS |
World Geodetic System |
WLAN |
Wireless Local Area Network |
WMM |
World Magnetic Model |
ZUPT |
Zero Velocity Update |