Department of Aerospace Engineering, ACED

AIRCRAFT NAVIGATION

1.1 INTRODUCTION
Navigation is a very ancient skill or art which has become a complex science. It is essentially
about travel and finding the way from one place to another and there are a variety of means by
which this may be achieved
Perhaps one of the simplest forms of navigation is the following of directions, or instructions.
For example, a person wishing to travel to a given destination from where they are at the moment
may be instructed: turn right at the next junction, turn left at the 'Rose and Crown', keep to the
right of a given landmark,..., it will be in front of you! Clearly, this method of navigation relies
on the observation and recognition of known features or fixed objects in our surroundings and
moving between them. In technical narratives, the locations of these features are often referred to
as 'way-points'. An extension of this process is navigation by following a map. In this case, the
navigator will determine his or her position by observation of geographical features such as
roads, rivers, hills and valleys which are shown on the map. These features may be defined on
the map with respect to a grid system or 'reference frame'. For example, positions of terrain
features are often defined with respect to the Earth's Equator and the Greenwich meridian by
their latitude and longitude. Hence the navigator is able to determine his or her position in that
reference frame. As will become clear later in the text, the use of reference frames is
fundamental to the process of navigation.
As an alternative method, the navigator may choose to observe other objects or naturally
occurring phenomena to determine his or her position. An ancient and well established technique
is to take sightings of certain of the fixed stars to which the navigator can relate his or her
position. The fixed stars effectively define a reference frame which is fixed in space. Such a
reference is commonly referred to as an 'inertial' reference frame and star sightings enable an
observer to determine his or her position with respect to that frame. Given knowledge of the
motion of the Earth and the time of the observation, the navigator is able to use the celestial
measurements to define his or her position on the surface of the Earth. Navigation systems of this
type, which rely upon observation of the outside world, are known as 'position fixing' systems.
An alternative approach is to use the principle of 'dead reckoning' by which present position may
be calculated from knowledge of initial position and measurements of speed and direction. The
process of dead reckoning is performed by taking the last known position and the time at which
it was obtained, and noting the average speed and heading since that time, and the current time.
The speed must be resolved though the heading angle to give velocity components north and
east. Each is then multiplied by the time which has elapsed since the last position was obtained to
give the change in position. Finally, the position changes are summed with initial position to
obtain present position. An equivalent process may be conducted using inertial sensors -
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gyroscopes and accelerometers - to sense rotational and translational motion with respect
to an inertial reference frame. This is known as inertial navigation.

1.2 TYPES OF NAVIGATION

All position-determination schemes can be classified as either dead reckoning or
Position fixing.

 Dead Reckoning
Dead reckoning consists of extrapolation of a ’known’ position to some future time. It involves
measurement of direction of motion and distance traveled. The actual computation is performed
by taking the last known position and the time at which it was obtained, noting average speed
and heading since then and the present time. The speed is usually resolved to get North and East
components and each is multiplied by the time elapsed since the last position to get distance
traveled. This can be added to the initial position to get the present position.

To perform all these functions the Navigation system requires the following instruments:
(1) A speed measuring device (2) A heading sensor (3) A timer and (4) A computer.
Measurement of speed is usually done using an air-speed meter (which measures the aircraft’s
speed relative to the air and does not take into account the speed of the air relative to the surface
of the earth), or by measuring the ground speed using Doppler effect (this is done by transmitting
three or four beams in different directions toward the ground and measuring the aircraft’s relative
velocity along these. Heading can be measured using a simple magnetic compass, a gyro-
magnetic compass, or a gyrocompass.

Position Fixing
In contrast to dead reckoning, position fixing is the determination of the position of the craft (a fix)
without reference to any former position.
There are three basic methods of fixing position:

(1) Map reading

(2) Celestial navigation and
(3) Measuring range and/or bearing to identifiable points.

 Map reading involves matching what can be seen of the outside world with a map and is the
traditional method of position fixing on land and is also used by general aviation in clear
weather. Modern systems adopting this technique use radar to obtain a picture of the ground
from the air and a computer match it with a map stored in the form of a digital land mass
database. These systems are called terrain referenced navigation aids.

 Celestial navigation has been used by mariners for centuries. The basis of celestial
navigation is that if the altitude of a celestial object (measured in terms of the angle
between the line-of-sight and the horizontal) of a celestial object is measured then the
observer’s position must lie on a specific circle (called the circle of position) on the
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surface of the earth centered on the point on the earth which is directly below the object.
This is shown in Fig.1
If the time of observation is noted and the celestial object is a star then this circle
can easily be found using astronomical tables and charts. Sightings on two or more such
celestial objects will give two or more such circles of position, and their intersection will
give the position of the craft.
Though in the early days some aircraft did use celestial navigation this has been
abandoned nowadays in favour of better navigational aids. However, we shall show that
its basic principle (that of intersection of circles of position to determine the exact
position) will be used in a more general form in more advanced navigation system .

Fig 1. Celestial Navigation

 Range and bearing navigational techniques are the basis of most modern position
fixing systems. They use modern electronic equipment for doing this kind of
measurement. Through individual measurements of range and bearing, a line of position a
line on which the craft is presumed to be located-is established. In principle, it is
somewhat similar to celestial navigation. The line might be a small circle, great circle,
hyperbola or some other curve constituting the intersection of the surface of the earth (or
a concentric surface at the altitude of the aircraft) with a plane or a cone or a hyperboloid
etc. The common intersection of two or more nonparallel lines of position constitutes the
fix. If the lines are determined at different times, then one or more of them must be
adjusted for the assumed motion during the interval provide a running fix. Occasionally,
an actual position is not needed, a line of position being adequate to ensure safety. This is
called homing. The method is not suitable when other aircraft are in the vicinity and a
means of avoiding them is not available.
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1.3 Reference Frame

Fig.2 Frames of reference

Fundamental to the process of inertial navigation is the precise definition of a number of

Cartesian co-ordinate reference frames. Each frame is an orthogonal, right-handed, co-ordinate
frame or axis set.
For navigation over the Earth, it is necessary to define axis sets which allow the inertial
measurements to be related to the cardinal directions of the Earth, that is, frames which have a
physical significance when attempting to navigate in the vicinity of the Earth. Therefore, it is
customary to consider an inertial reference frame which is stationary with respect to the fixed
stars, the origin of which is located at the centre of the Earth. Such a reference frame is shown in
Figure 2, together with an Earth-fixed reference frame and a local geographic navigation frame
defined for the purposes of terrestrial inertial navigation.
The following co-ordinate frames are used
 The inertial frame (i-frame) has its origin at the centre of the Earth and axes which are
non-rotating with respect to the fixed stars, defined by the axes Oxi, Oyi, Ozj, with OZi
coincident with the Earth's polar axis (which is assumed to be invariant in direction).

 The Earth frame (e-frame) has its origin at the centre of the Earth and axes which are
fixed with respect to the Earth, defined by the axes Oxe, Ove, Oze with Oze along the
Earth's polar axis. The axis Oxe lies along the intersection of the plane of the Greenwich
meridian with the Earth's equatorial plane. The Earth frame rotates, with respect to the
inertial frame, at a rate Ω about the axis Ozi.
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 The navigation frame (n-frame) is a local geographic frame which has its origin at the
location of the navigation system, point P, and axes aligned with the directions of north,
east and the local vertical (down). The turn rate of the navigation frame, with respect to
the Earth-fixed frame, ωen, is governed by the motion of the point P with respect to the
Earth. This is often referred to as the transport rate.

 The wander azimuth frame (w-frame) may be used to avoid the singularities in the
computation which occur at the poles of the navigation frame. Like the navigation frame,
it is locally level but is rotated through the wander angle about the local vertical

 The body frame (b-frame) is an orthogonal axis set which is aligned with the roll, pitch
and yaw axes of the vehicle in which the navigation system is installed

A few definitions
 Inertia is the property of bodies to maintain constant translational and rotational velocity,
unless disturbed by forces or torques, respectively (Newton’s first law of motion).
 An inertial reference frame is a coordinate frame in which Newton’s laws of motion are
valid. Inertial reference frames are neither rotating nor accelerating.
 Inertial sensors measure rotation rate and acceleration, both of which are vector valued
variables.
 Gyroscopes are sensors for measuring rotation: rate gyroscopes measure rotation rate,
and integrating gyroscopes (also called whole‐angle gyroscopes) measure rotation angle.
 Accelerometers are sensors for measuring acceleration. However, accelerometers cannot
measure gravitational acceleration. That is, an accelerometer in free fall (or in orbit) has
no detectable input.
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Inertial Navigation System

Introduction
 INS are dead reckoning devices that completely self contained which include a
computer and a platform or module containing accelerometers, gyros or other motion
sensing devices.
 INS are independent of their operation environment such a wind, visibility or aircraft
attitude
 INS do not radiate or receive radio frequency signals, therefore they are impervious to
counter measure such as jamming.
 It is the only form of navigation that doesn’t rely on external references.

Fig- Functional components of an inertial navigation system

Basic Principle of INS

 The operation of inertial navigation systems depends upon the laws of classical
mechanics as formulated by Sir Isaac Newton.
 Newton's laws tell us that the motion of a body will continue uniformly in a straight
line unless disturbed by external force acting on the body.
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 The laws also tell us that this force will produce a proportional acceleration of the
body.
 Given the ability to measure that acceleration, it would be possible to calculate the
change in velocity and position by performing successive mathematical integrations
of the acceleration with respect to time.
 Acceleration can be determined using a device known as an accelerometer. An
inertial navigation system usually contains three such devices, each of which is
capable of detecting acceleration in a single direction.
 The accelerometers are commonly mounted with their sensitive axes perpendicular to
one another, i.e. mutually perpendicular.
 In order to navigate with respect to our inertial reference frame, it is necessary to keep
track of the direction in which the accelerometers are pointing.
 Rotational motion of the body with respect to the inertial reference frame may be
sensed using gyroscopic sensors and used to determine the orientation of the
accelerometers at all times.
 Given this information, it is possible to resolve the accelerations into the reference
frame before the integration process takes place
 Hence, inertial navigation is the process whereby the measurements provided by
gyroscopes and accelerometers are used to determine the position of the vehicle in
which they are installed.
 By combining the two sets of measurements, it is possible to define the translational
motion of the vehicle within the inertial reference frame and so to calculate its
position within it.
 Unlike many other types of navigation system, inertial systems are entirely self-
contained within the vehicle, in the sense that they are not dependent on the
transmission of signals from the vehicle or reception from an external source.
However, inertial navigation systems do rely upon the availability of accurate
knowledge of vehicle position at the start of navigation.
 The inertial measurements are then used to obtain estimates of changes in position
which take place thereafter.

Types of INS
1. Gimbaled
2. Strap down

Gimbaled-
 The original applications of inertial navigation technology used stable platform
techniques.
 In such systems, the inertial sensors are mounted on a stable platform and are
mechanically isolated from the rotational motion of the vehicle.
 Platform systems are still in common use, particularly for those applications requiring
very accurate estimates of navigation data, such as ships and submarines
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 A gimbaled is a rigid with rotation bearings for isolating the inside of the frame from
external rotations about the bearing axes. At least three gimbals are required to isolate a
subsystem from host vehicle rotations about three axes, typically labeled roll, pitch, and
yaw axes.
 The gimbals in an INS are mounted inside one another. Gimbals and torque servos are
used to null out the rotation of stable platform on which the inertial sensors are mounted

Gimbaled inertial platform

Strap down
 Modern systems have removed most of the mechanical complexity of platform systems
by having the sensors attached rigidly, or 'strapped down', to the body of the host vehicle.
 The potential benefits of this approach are lower cost, reduced size and greater reliability
compared with equivalent platform systems.
 As a result, small, light weight and accurate inertial navigation systems may now be fitted
to small guided missiles, for instance.
 The major penalties incurred are a substantial increase in computing complexity and the
need to use sensors capable of measuring much higher rates of turn.
 However, recent advances in computer technology combined with the development of
suitable sensors have allowed such designs to become a reality.
 Inertial navigation systems of this type, usually referred to as 'strapdown' inertial
navigation systems
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Strapdown inertial navigation unit block diagram