THE KALMAN FILTER : A LOOK BEHIND THE SCENE

The Kalman filter is a set of equations, applied recursively, that can be used in surveying applications to obtain position, velocity and acceleration of a moving object from traditional surveying measurements. The aim of this paper is to introduce the surveyor to the Kalman filter by examination of two simple applications, (i) Electromagnetic Distance Measurement (EDM) and (ii) the position and velocity of a ship in a navigation channel.