INERTIAL AND MAGNETIC SENSORS SYSTEMS DESIGNED FOR MEASURING THE HEADING ANGLE WITH RESPECT TO THE NORTH TERRESTRIAL POLE

摘要

The invention described here concerns a heading system of distributed design consisting of: at least two sensor units capable of determining the north earth's magnetic pole direction; at least one sensor unit capable of determining the position with respect to both the north terrestrial magnetic pole direction and the north geographic pole direction at the same time; and the capability of compensating any errors, arising from unpredictable variations in the local earth's magnetic field, affecting all sensor units in said system. The present invention can be classified in the technical field of measuring instruments, in particular those for measuring heading angles. The application field of this invention consists primarily in measuring the heading angle of sea-surface or underwater systems of distributed design such as sea buoys underwater vessels and towed sensor arrays. This invention, however, can also be applied to groups of land vehicles, the positions of which, with respect to a fixed reference system, must be determined as a function of time.