Kalman filter mechanization in INS/seeker fusion and observability analysis

Abstract

A seeker is present in numerous missiles as a pointing device during the final stages of a mission. This paper shows that the sensors in the seeker can be used during midcourse to improve the inertial navigation solution. In order to do so, the relative orientation and angular rates measured at the seeker are fused with the inertial navigation solution using an Extended Kalman Filter. The paper contains a mechanization of such a Kalman Filter together with a simplified observability analysis. The main advantages of the technique proposed here is that it does not require elaborate mission planning stage and involves relatively simple and robust image processing algorithms.Nomenclature:a SFj,i=x,y,z