A system determines three-dimensional attitude of a moving platform using
signals from two closely spaced Global Positioning System (GPS) antennas.
The system includes three rate gyroscopes and three accelerometers
rigidly mounted in a fixed relationship to the platform to aid in
determining the attitude. The system applies signals from one of the two
GPS antennas to sufficient channels of a GPS receiver to support
navigation. The system applies signals from a second of the two GPS
antennas to the additional receive channels to support interferometry.
The system resolves the ambiguity normally associated with the
interferometric heading solution by having closely spaced GPS antennas,
and uses interferometry to refine a coarse heading estimate from a GPS
plus Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) transfer alignment solution. The
system achieves sub-meter spacing of the two GPS antennas by merging many
temporal interferometric measurements and the attitude memory provided by
the IMU time-history solution.