DGPS/INS data fusion for land navigation

The interest for land navigation has increased for the recent years. With the advent of the Global Position System (GPS) we have now the ability to determine the absolute position anywhere on the globe. The problem is that the GPS systems work well only in open environments with no overhead obstructions and they are subject to large unavoidable errors when the reception from some of the satellites is blocked. This occurs frequently in urban environments, forests and tunnels. GPS systems require at least four “visible” satellites to maintain a good position fix. In many situations in which higher level of accuracy is required, the navigation cannot be achieved by GPS alone. This paper discusses the design of a reliable multisensor fusion algorithm using GPS and Inertial Navigation System in order to decrease the implementation cost of such systems on land vehicles.