Enhanced SINS/RCNS integrated navigation with self-calibration of atmospheric refraction model
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: The Strap-down Inertial Navigation System/Refraction Celestial Navigation System (SINS/RCNS) integrated navigation is a high-accuracy autonomous positioning method. The accuracy of this method is fundamentally limited by errors in the atmospheric refraction model. However, atmospheric models are difficult to be highly accurate due to factors such as measurement errors, numerical approximations, physical simplifications, and chaotic dynamics, and their uncertainty will always persist. To solve this problem, a general atmospheric refraction model containing four parameters is established, and a new SINS/RCNS integrated navigation method based on self-calibration of the atmospheric refraction model using starlight refraction measurements is proposed. Simulations show that the proposed method can effectively estimate the four parameters of the atmospheric refraction model, especially the terms related to the logarithmic term and constant term. They have a significant impact on refraction apparent height and navigation performance. The proposed SINS/RCNS integrated navigation method, which incorporates self-calibration of atmospheric refraction model, demonstrates relatively stable positioning performance across different atmospheric refraction models. Compared with traditional SINS/RCNS approaches lacking such self-calibration, the positioning accuracy is improved by approximately 54.44% to 87.77% under various constant atmospheric model error cases and 75.98% under the case of varying error. This study provides technical support for the engineering application of SINS/RCNS integrated navigation systems.
Source: Chinese Journal of Aeronautics
Language: English
Subfield: Aerospace Engineering
Field: Engineering
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $2,000
OpenAlex ID: W7202159249