Integrated GPS/INS navigation system with dual-rate Kalman Filter

A dual-rate Kalman Filter (DRKF) has been developed to integrate the time-differenced GPS carrier phases and the GPS pseudoranges with INS measurements. The time-differenced GPS carrier phases, which have low noise and millimeter measurement precision, are integrated with INS measurements using a Kalman Filter with high update rates to improve the performance of the integrated system. Since the time-differenced GPS carrier phases are only relative measurements, when integrated with INS, the position error of the integrated system will accumulate over time. Therefore, the GPS pseudoranges are also incorporated into the integrated system using a Kalman Filter with a low update rate to control the accumulation of system errors. Experimental tests have shown that this design, compared to a conventional design using a single Kalman Filter, reduces the coasting error by two-thirds for a medium coasting time of 30 s, and the position, velocity, and attitude errors by at least one-half for a 45-min field navigation experiment.