Attitude estimation using high-grade gyroscopes

This paper addresses the problem of attitude estimation using the angular velocity of Earth as a reference vector. A nonlinear observer is proposed that evolves on the special orthogonal group and is aided by angular velocity readings containing implicit measurements of the Earth's spin. Additionally, the observer resorts to body-fixed measurements of one constant inertial reference vector. The observer's sole tuning parameter, shaped as a matrix gain, is computed from a time-varying Kalman filter strategically applied to a uniformly observable linear time-invariant system, which is obtained from the linearized rotation matrix error dynamics. The nonlinear observer is proved to be locally exponentially stable but, most noticeably, in spite of this local-based inception, a Monte Carlo simulation analysis demonstrates the good properties of the observer in terms of convergence rate, tuning capability, and large basin of attraction. Furthermore, extensive experimental results confirm the properties of the proposed technique and validate its usage in real world applications.