Tightly Coupled INS/GPS Navigation System using the Multi-Filter Fusion Technique

For robust INS/GPS navigation system, an efficient multi-filter fusion technique is proposed. In the filtering for nonlinear systems, the representative filter - EKF, and the alternative filters - RHKF filter, SPKF, etc. have individual advantages and weak points. The key concept of the multi-filter fusion is the mergence of the strong points of the filters. This paper fuses the IIR type filter – EKF and the FIR type filter – RHKF filter using the adaptive strategy. The result of the fusion has several advantages over the EKF, and the RHKF filter. The advantages include the robustness to the system uncertainty, temporary unknown bias, and so on. The multi-filter fusion technique is applied to the tightly coupled INS/GPS navigation system and the performance is verified by simulation.