Posterror Compensation of Moving-Base Rotating Accelerometer Gravity Gradiometer

Mounting requirements of a rotating accelerometer gravity gradiometer (RAGG) beyond the art of manufacture, the RAGG is susceptible to the motion of itself. Motion error is a main source of error in airborne gravity gradiometry data. This study presented a posterror compensation method, which consists of postmotion error compensation and post-self-gradient compensation. The motion error and self-gradients are compensated before that the combined output of the four accelerometers is quadrature amplitude demodulated. The motion error compensation is based on the RAGG analytical model; motion response of the RAGG (namely, motion error) is related well to the motion of the RAGG, independent of the gravitational gradient response; recording the motion status of the RAGG, with least squares regression method and the RAGG analytical model, the motion response of the RAGG are separated and removed. RAGG numerical simulation experiment results show that the postmotion error compensation method is feasible, and its limit accuracy could reach 0.5 E/root Hz.

Automated summary

In this study, a posterror compensation method for the rotating accelerometer gravity gradiometer (RAGG) was proposed, which showed that the compensation of motion error is feasible and can achieve a limit accuracy of 0.5 E/root Hz. The method involves separating and removing the motion response of the RAGG in order to improve the accuracy of the data collected.