A low-cost, redundant inertial measurement unit for unmanned air vehicles

This paper discusses the development of a low-cost, redundant, strapdown in ertial measurement unit (IMU). The unit comprises four ceramic vibrating st ructure gyroscopes and four QLC 400 accelerometers configured on a truncate d tetrahedron design. This design allows for the optimal configuration of t he eight sensors. which in turn provides for a theoretical 33% increase in information. The redundant sensor configuration also allows for fault detec tion, which is required for many autonomous applications. This initiative i s a precursor for future developments with more sensors to provide fault is olation. The paper will also present a navigation system implementing the r edundant IMU with the global positioning system. Results are provided of th is navigation system being implemented in an unmanned air vehicle.