Polar transfer alignment of shipborne SINS with a large misalignment angle

Existing polar transfer alignment (TA) algorithms are designed based on linear Kalman filters (KF) to estimate misalignment angles. In the case of a large misalignment angle, these algorithms cannot be applied in order to achieve accurate TA. In this paper, a TA algorithm based on an unscented Kalman filter (UKF) is proposed to solve the problem of the large misalignment angle in the polar region. Based on a large misalignment angle, nonlinear navigation error equations, which are the UKF dynamic models, are derived under grid frames. This paper chooses the velocity plus attitude matching method as the TA matching method and errors of velocity and attitude as observations. The misalignment angle can be estimated by the designed UKF. The simulation results have demonstrated that the polar TA algorithm can be effective in improving the TA accuracy, especially when large misalignment angles occur.