A comprehensive strapdown triaxial magnetometer calibration method considering temporal misalignment error

The geomagnetic vector field is always measured by a strapdown triaxial magnetometer on a vehicle. We propose a comprehensive calibration method of strapdown triaxial magnetometers with the aid of external attitude information from a gyro. The temporal misalignment between the two sensors will introduce unexpected measurement errors. The traditional calibration method was expanded to include a temporal misalignment error model for a multi-sensor system, and it was further improved to overcome the ill-posed problem in practical applications. Additionally, the inherent errors of the magnetometer and the vehicle-generated magnetic inferences can be effectively calibrated. Simulations and experimental results demonstrated the success of the method. In comparison with the traditional method, the improvement ratio values of the magnetic field components for the proposed method approximately doubled. This indicated that the algorithm can effectively enhance the measurement accuracy of a strapdown triaxial magnetometer, especially for vector field measurements.

Automated summary

The proposed comprehensive calibration method effectively enhances the measurement accuracy of strapdown triaxial magnetometers by overcoming temporal misalignment errors, inherent errors, and vehicle-generated magnetic inferences. Simulation and experimental results demonstrated a significant improvement in magnetic field component values compared to traditional methods.