VEHICLE NAVIGATION USING THE PLESSEY ADAPTIVE COMPASS. NAV 85 - LAND NAVIGATION AND LOCATION FOR MOBILE APPLICATIONS - PAPERS PRESENTED AT THE 1985 CONFERENCE OF THE ROYAL INSTITUTE OF NAVIGATION, YORK, 9-11 SEPTEMBER 1985

The use of magnetic compasses in ships and aircraft is described as are the problems involved in their calibration. The problems of navigation on land are outlined and the potential of microprocessors to provide more accurate information in the face of widespread magnetic interference discussed. A description is given of the features, advantages and limitations of a dead reckoning navigation system based on the adaptive compass. The main feature of the system is the magnetic calibration techniques used which allow calibration of the sensors to be achieved in the most hostile of magnetic environments. This has been coupled with cheap and reliable auxiliary sensors which can be mounted in the control unit to give a self-contained magnetic dead reckoning system suitable for rural and urban conditions. The addition of external data such as digitised maps, beacons and update facilities provide a completely flexible range. Within an accuracy range of plus or minus 0.5 to plus or minus 2.0 degrees, the adaptive compass provides a robust, maintenance-free system requiring little operator intervention. Applications range from navigation in London traffic to tracked vehicle location in mountainous or desert terrain. (TRRL)

• Corporate Authors:

  Royal Institute of Navigation

  1 Kensington Gore
  London,   England 
• Authors:
  • Foster, M R
• Publication Date: 1985

Media Info

• Features: References;
• Pagination: 5 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Alignment; Automatic vehicle location; Calibration; Charts; Conferences; Electronics; Errors; Itinerary; Magnetic properties; Microprocessors
• Uncontrolled Terms: Selection
• ITRD Terms: 2894: Alignment; 3882: Automatic; 6171: Calibration; 6486: Chart; 8525: Conference; 6965: Electronics; 6440: Error; 699: Itinerary; 9061: Location; 6936: Magnetism; 8643: Microprocessor; 9072: Selection; 1255: Vehicle
• Subject Areas: Highways; Planning and Forecasting;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00491622
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Transport Research Laboratory
• Files: ITRD, TRIS
• Created Date: Mar 31 1990 12:00AM