Apparatus and Method for Determining Azimuth, Pitch and Roll

The present invention relates to compass apparatus and, in particular, compass apparatus which further provides azimuth, pitch and roll signals.

In compasses which incorporate magnetometers having two orthogonally disposed flux gate elements which provide signals from which an azimuth (heading) is calculated, the pitch and roll of the vessel or platform to which the compass is attached is also of interest for itself and because it may affect the azimuth calculations. Therefore, pitch and roll signals are desired as well as the heading signal. However, separately derived signals are not as good as actually measuring the pitch and roll of the gimbaled platform.

These and other features of the present invention will be better understood by reading the following detailed description, taken together with the drawing wherein:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 1A is a cross-section view of the pitch and roll coils surrounding the sensor; and

FIG. 2 is a flow chart of the process calculating the azimuth, pitch and roll according to one embodiment of the present invention.

A block drawing of one embodiment of the system is shown in FIG. 1 wherein a sensor 52, containing three orthogonal magnetic field sensing elements 52A, 52B and 52C, typically flux gates, are retained within a structure having a pitch coil 54 and a roll coil 56 disposed thereabout to selectively provide a predetermined DC magnetic field for the process described below. The particular proportions of the pitch and roll coils 54 and 56 are shown more clearly in FIG. 1A, wherein the coils 54 and 56 comprise solenoidally-wound coils which extend beyond the sensor 52 such that the lines of flux produced by the respective coils are substantially parallel and distributed substantially uniformly in the sensor 52. The three orthogonal magnetic field sensing elements 52A, 52B and 52C of the sensor 52 define a reference frame for the determination of roll about the Y axis and pitch about the X axis.

The signals derived by the individual flux gates in the sensor 52 are measured by elements 60, 62 and 64, and received by and stored in a processor 66. The processor sequentially and selectively energizes the pitch and roll coils 54 and 56 according to control signals applied to energization circuits 68 and 70, respectively. The resulting calculated pitch, roll and azimuth is provided on output leads 72 and/or selectively displayed on a display 74.

The embodiment, according to the present invention, includes a processor 66 which typically comprises a microprocessor such as the Intel MCS 48 Series Microprocessor, the Motorola 6800 Series Microprocessor or equivalent thereof, and is programmed according to the following process according to the present invention by one of skill in the art.

The process of the present invention provides a periodic update of the pitch, roll and azimuth signals. One embodiment of the process is shown in the flow chart 100 in FIG. 2 wherein the process begins at step 102, and turns the coils off at step 104 so that the X, Y and Z signals provided by the sensor 52 and measured by elements 60, 62 and 64, noted as Xe, Ye and Ze, correspond only to the ambient magnetic field (of the Earth). The measurement is provided at step 106. Subsequently, the roll coil 56 is energized producing a magnetic field along an axis orthogonal to the direction of the windings of roll coil 56 at step 108 and the three orthogonal signals are measured at step 110 wherein the signals are noted as Xr, Yr and Zr. Subsequently, the roll coil 56 is de-energized and the pitch coil 54 is energized producing a magnetic field along an axis orthogonal to the direction of the windings of pitch coil 54 at step 112. The signals from the sensors are measured at step 114, providing the Xp, Yp and Zp signals, comprising the ambient Earth magnetic field and the field imposed by the pitch coil. Preferably, the above steps of measuring the sensor signals with and without energization of the particular roll and pitch coils is accomplished in a short interval, such as 15 milliseconds, in order to provide a "snapshot" of the ambient field conditions. If an extended period of time between the readings exists so that the platform to which the compass is attached changes its relative position, changes in ambient field conditions will cause erroneous calculations of the desired signals.

The signals derived when all coils are off (Xe, Ye and Ze) are substracted respectively from the signals (Xr, Yr and Zr) derived when the roll coil is energized, resulting in difference signals XI, YI and ZI at step 116. Similarly, the signals measured when the coils are not energized are subtracted, at step 118, from the signals (Xp, Yp and Zp) derived when the pitch coil is energized, providing signals XII, YII and ZII.

In step 120, the pitch (P) is calculated according to the arctangent of XII/ZII. In step 122, a quadrant correction is applied such that if the value of XII is less than 0, 180.degree. is added to the value of pitch, and if the value of XII is greater than 0 and the value of ZII is less than 0, a value of 360.degree. is added to the calculated value of pitch. Subsequently, at step 124, the value of Z1 is multiplied by 1+ sin P where P is the calculated pitch angle.

The roll (R) is calculated at step 126 according to the arctangent of YI/ZI, and is corrected at the optional step 128, which incorporates the quadrant correction according to step 122 as applied to the calculated roll angle.

The azimuth (.theta.) is calculated at step 130 according to the arctangent of the initially measured values of Ye/Xe. Quadrant correction is applied at the optional step 132, incorporating the procedure of step 122, discussed above, as applied to the calculated azimuth angle.

Finally, the calculated azimuth, pitch and roll values are transmitted to the external apparatus or to the display 74 at step 134, whereupon the method of determining azimuth, pitch and roll according to the present invention is begun again at step 102.

Modifications and substitutions made by one of skill in the art is considered to be within the scope of the present invention which is not to be limited except by the claims which follow: