Calibration of Strapdown Magnetometers in the Magnetic Field Domain

Title	Calibration of Strapdown Magnetometers in the Magnetic Field Domain
Publication Type	Journal Article
Year of Publication	2006
Authors	Gebre-Egziabher D, Elkaim GH
Journal	ASCE Journal of Aerospace Engineering
Volume	19
Start Page	1
Date Published	04/2006
Abstract	This paper presents an algorithm for calibrating strapdown magnetometers in the magnetic field domain. In contrast to the traditional method of compass swinging, which computes a series of heading correction parameters and thus is limited to use with two-axis systems, this algorithm estimates magnetometer output errors directly. Therefore, this new algorithm can be used to calibrate a full three-axis magnetometer triad. The calibration algorithm uses an iterated, batch least-squares estimator that is initialized using a two-step nonlinear estimator. The algorithm is simulated to validate convergence characteristics and further validated on experimental data collected using a magnetometer triad. It is shown that the postcalibration residuals are small and result in a system with heading errors on the order of 1 to 2 degrees.
DOI	10.1061/(ASCE)0893-1321(2006)19:2(87)