Consistent ST-EKF for Long Distance Land Vehicle Navigation Based on SINS/OD Integration

This paper presents detailed derivations and further explanations of the state transformation extended Kalman filter (ST-EKF) from the common frame error definition perspective. Both the system error and measurement models of strapdown inertial navigation system (SINS)/Odometer (OD) tightly-coupled navigation are derived based on the ST-EKF. Both theoretical analysis and test results indicate the effectiveness of the proposed velocity error definition on mitigating the covariance-inconsistency problem that is caused by the specific force calculation error in the EKF state transition matrix. The excellent covariance-consistency of the ST-EKF makes it not necessary to remove gyro and accelerometer bias errors from the initial alignment Kalman filter states. This phenomenon can ensure the subsequent integrated navigation performance. Single-position ground SINS alignment experiments by using a navigation grade inertial measurement unit (IMU) showed that the estimated yaw angle from the conventional 15-state EKF slowly diverged over time. Furthermore, this phenomenon became more distinct when the initial yaw angle error was larger. In contrast, the estimated yaw angle from the proposed 15-state ST-EKF was significantly more stable and less degraded by large initial yaw angle errors. Long-distance land-vehicle SINS/OD integrated navigation tests also exhibited the ST-EKF's higher positioning and heading accuracy than the EKF.