Nippondenso Co., Ltd.

Kiyohumi Kage

Susumu Akiyama

Yuji Hirabayashi

Katsuhiro Ina

Kazushi Akutsu

Disclosed is an azimuth determination apparatus attached to a motor vehicle for determinating the forward direction of the vehicle. The azimuth determination apparatus includes an azimuth sensor for generating orthogonal first and second signals indicative of the forward direction of the vehicle. Two azimuth vectors are obtained on the basis of the orthogonal first and second component signals, first components of the two azimuth vectors being maximum and minimum. The determination is made in terms of the fact that the difference between second components of the two azimuth vectors is below a predetermined value. In accordance with the determination, the orthogonal first and second component signals are corrected on the basis of said two azimuth vectors so that the accurate moving direction of the motor vehicle can be obtained irrespective of the remanence of the vehicle.

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Oobu, Japan

Kiyohumi Kage