Performance Enhancement and Countermeasure for GPS Failure of GPS/INS Navigation System of UAV Through Integration of 3D Magnetic Vector

This study examined methods to enhance navigation performance and reduce the divergence of navigation solutions that may occur in the event of global positioning system (GPS) failure by integrating the GPS/inertial navigation system (INS) with the three-dimensional (3D) magnetic vector measurements of a magnetometer. A magnetic heading aiding method that employs a magnetometer has been widely used to enhance the heading performance in low-cost GPS/INS navigation systems with insufficient observability. However, in the case of GPS failure, wrong heading information may further accelerate the divergence of the navigation solution. In this study, a method of integrating the 3D magnetic vector measurements of a magnetometer is proposed as a countermeasure for the case where the GPS fails. As the proposed method does not require attitude information for integration unlike the existing magnetic heading aiding method, it is applicable even in case of GPS failure. In addition, the existing magnetic heading aiding method utilizes only one-dimensional information in the heading direction, whereas the proposed method uses the two-dimensional attitude information of the magnetic vector, thus improving the observability of the system. To confirm the effect of the proposed method, simulation was performed for the normal operation and failure situation of GPS. The result confirmed that the proposed method improved the accuracy of the navigation solution and reduced the divergence speed of the navigation solution in the case of GPS failure, as compared with that of the existing method.