Gyro drift cancelation

摘要

Methods, devices, and systems are presented for compensating for gyroscopic drift in a stabilized gimbal system mounted on a vehicle. When the vehicle is parked and the gimbal is not being commanded to move by an operator, encoders or resolvers of the gimbal stabilized system are read and periodically read thereafter. When the vehicle begins to move or the gimbal is commanded to move, the last periodic reading of the resolvers is used to determine the amount that the gimbal has moved during the rest period. A gyroscopic drift rate is computed by dividing the amount of angular movement by the time period between the readings, and the gyroscopic drift rate is used for corrections while the vehicle is moving or gimbal is commanded to move. Each time the vehicle stops, the gyroscopic drift rate is re-computed and updated. The gyroscope can be heated until the drift rate is constant with respect to temperature, further helping the calibration.

主权项

1. A method of compensating for drift in a vehicle-mounted gyroscope, the method comprising:
receiving, from a first sensor, an indication that a vehicle supporting a gyroscope has stopped moving; receiving, from a second sensor, an indication that the stabilized section is not being commanded to move; receiving rotation-indicating data caused by the gyroscope, the rotation-indicating data indicating rotation of a stabilized section of a gimbal over a time period when the vehicle is not moving and the stabilized section is not being commanded to move; computing, using at least one processor operatively coupled with a memory, a gyroscopic drift rate of the gyroscope from the rotation-indicating data; receiving an indication that the vehicle has started moving or the stabilized section is being commanded to move; and compensating the gimbal stabilized section supported by the vehicle using the gyroscopic drift rate.