Integration of Steering Angle Sensor with Global Positioning System and Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems Inertial Measurement Unit for Vehicular Positioning

The concept of using the steering angle sensor to enhance positioning accuracy during Global Positioning System (GPS) outages is the focus of this article. This development of a GPS Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems Inertial Measurement Unit (MEMS IMU) steering angle sensor vehicular positioning system is discussed in detail including the error dynamics and measurement models as well as integration strategy. With postmission and real-time field tests, the benefits in terms of the horizontal positioning accuracy after integrating the steering angle sensors are analyzed. With respect to GPS/MEMS IMU integrated system, the percentage improvement gained when including the steering angle sensor is over 50% for the open-sky test when GPS outages are simulated, and about 30% for the real-time tests conducted in the suburban and pseudourban environments.