A computer simulation of the influence of GGI and inertial sensors on gravity gradient aided navigation

In order to investigate the influence of gravity gradiometer instrument (GGI), gyroscope, and accelerator on navigation precision, simulation program of gravity gradient aided inertial navigation system is established in this paper. The detailed mathematical model of gravity gradient aided navigation system is given. Simulation results under Matlab environment prove that remarkably promotion of navigation precision can be obtained by using five independent gravity gradient tensors into the integrated system. Meanwhile, it also shows that both the gradiometer accuracy and the matching map resolution has large influence on navigation precision, while the gyroscope and accelerator accuracy make a minor one by comparison. These conclusions indicate that gravity gradient aided inertial navigation has a lower demand on inertial sensors, which is helpful to reduce the design cost of inertial navigation system.