Simulation of a strapdown magnetic azimuth detector for wing tip mounted applications

This paper addresses the instrument performance issues of a wing tip mounted solid state magnetic azimuth detector (MAD). The approach taken here dynamically tracks the wing tip deflections so that when used in conjunction with a fuselage mounted inertial reference unit (IRU), wing tip sensed magnetic measurements can be used to derive heading. Presented is a discussion of other strapdown approaches and their shortcomings with respect to wing mounted applications. This discussion is followed by a definition of the error sources associated with the new approach and a simulation illustrating the expected performance.<>