Flight motion tracking with new configuration of hybrid inertial sensors

Purpose This paper aims to describe a novel hybrid inertial measurement unit (IMU) for motion capturing via a new configuration of strategically distributed inertial sensors, and a calibration approach for the accelerometer and gyroscope sensors mounted in a flight vehicle motion tracker built on the inertial navigation system. Design/methodology/approach The hybrid-IMU is designed with five accelerometers and one auxiliary gyroscope instead of the accelerometer and gyroscope triads in the conventional IMU. Findings Simulation studies for tracking with both attitude angles and translational movement of a flight vehicle are conducted to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method. Originality/value The cross-quadratic terms of angular velocity are selected to process the direct measurements of angular velocities of body frame and to avoid the integration of angular acceleration vector compared with gyro-free configuration based on only accelerometers. The inertial sensors are selected from the commercial microelectromechanical system devices to realize its low-cost applications.