Velocity-aided Attitude Estimation for Accelerated Rigid Bodies

TL;DR

This paper introduces two nonlinear observers for attitude estimation that are globally asymptotically stable and decoupled from magnetometer measurements, using velocity, gyrometers, accelerometers, and magnetometers.

Contribution

The paper presents novel velocity-aided attitude observers with global stability and simple tuning, improving robustness over existing methods.

Findings

Observers are (almost) globally asymptotically stable.

Roll and pitch estimates are decoupled from magnetometer data.

The approach simplifies tuning and enhances stability.

Abstract

Two nonlinear observers for velocity-aided attitude estimation, relying on gyrometers, accelerometers, magnetometers, and velocity measured in the body-fixed frame, are proposed. As opposed to state-of-the-art body-fixed velocity-aided attitude observers endowed with local properties, both observers are (almost) globally asymptotically stable, with very simple and flexible tuning. Moreover, the roll and pitch estimates are globally decoupled from magnetometer measurements.