Optimising the Transfer Alignment of Weapon INS

Abstract

Transfer alignment is the process of initialising and calibrating a weapon INS using data from the host aircraft's navigation system. To determine which transfer alignment technique performs best, different design options have been assessed, supported by simulation work. The dependence of transfer alignment performance on environmental factors, such as manoeuvres, alignment duration, lever arm and inertial sensor quality has also been studied. ‘Rapid’ alignment, using attitude as well as velocity measurements was found to perform better than ‘conventional’ techniques using only velocity. Innovative developments include the estimation of additional acceleration and gyro states and estimation of force dependent relative orientation, which has enabled robust alignment using wing rock manoeuvres, which do not require the pilot to change trajectory. Transfer alignment has been verified in real-time by flight trials on a Tornado aircraft. In addition, techniques have been developed to prevent transients in the aircraft integrated navigation solution following GPS re-acquisition after an outage of several minutes from disrupting the transfer alignment process.