Design and development of precision Astronomical North-finding system: A software and hardware perspective

Accurate and absolute north orientation at geographically isolated locations is usually the first challenge faced by planners, surveyors and civil engineers and is an indispensible requirement of many military applications. The Astronomical North is one of the key parameters used by basic navigation tools for attitude determination and trajectory verification. It has applications in geodetic surveying, mapping and topography. This work presents a system for accurate determination of the astronomical azimuth using Sun or Polaris at any time.