Orthogonalization Techniques of a Direction Cosine Matrix

Three orthogonalization techniques to correct errors in the computeddirection cosine matrix are introduced. One of these techniques is avectorial technique based on the fact that the three rows of a directioncosine matrix constitute an orthonormal set of vectors in aree-threedimensional space. The other two iterative techniques are based onthe fact that the inverse and transpose of an orthogonal matrix areequal. In computing a time-varying direction cosine matrix computationalional errors are accompanied by the loss of the orthogonaliterty prop-rty of the matrix. When one of these three techniques is useo re-restore the orthogonality of the matrix, the computational errors arealso corrected. These techniques were tested experimentally and theresults, given in this paper, were compared with a method used by the Honeywell Corporation.