The rotation modulation inertial navigation system for blackout area during hypersonic reentry

Navigation of Hypersonic vehicles in the radio frequency (RF) blackout area during atmospheric reentry is challenging as the vehicles can only use the inertial navigation system (INS) as autonomous navigation method in this area. In this paper, strapdown inertial navigation system (SINS) based on the Fiber Optic Gyroscope (FOG) is used for navigation in blackout area. However, without external navigation measurement, the errors of SINS caused by the FOG drift and accelerometer bias would cumulate with time and degrade navigation accuracy. To solve this problem, single axis rotation modulation along with the azimuth axis of the body frame is adopted. The Generic Hypersonic Vehicle (GHV) model designed by NASA Langley Research Center is used to build the reentry fight model which can generate navigation information for simulation. Through derivation the error equations of FOG SINS in the North-East-Down (NED) navigation frame, the principle of error compensation by rotation modulation can be well understood. The simulation results show that rotation modulation can effectively decrease the impact of inertial sensor drift and improve the navigation accuracy in blackout area.