Accurate Measurement Calculation Method for Interferometric Radar Altimeter-Based Terrain Referenced Navigation

Abstract

In order to improve the performance of Terrain Referenced Navigation (TRN), an Interferometric Radar Altimeter (IRA) has been developed as a more accurate altimeter. The IRA outputs not only the relative distance (slant range, R) but also the cross-track angle (look angle, θ) of the closest point on the zero Doppler line by using the principle of interferometry and two or more antennas. To perform TRN using the IRA, the 3D relative position of the closest point should be calculated. There is a formula to calculate the relative position of the closest point using the Euler angles. However, in an actual flight environment in which the influence of wind exists, the angle of attack, the side slip angle and "the effective look angle" should be used rather than the Euler angles. In this paper, a new formula for calculating the relative position of the closest point is proposed and mathematically derived. The proposed formula was verified with real data from actual flight. The flight test results show that the positions of the closest points calculated using the conventional method and the proposed method are different because of the wind effect. The TRN simulation results indicate that the proposed formula calculates the closest points more accurately than the conventional formula.