Leica Geosystems Ag

Peter Nachbaur

Silvio Gnepf

Frank Dittrich

Method of stabilizing the horizon of magnetic compasses

The invention relates to a method for determining correction parameters for the measured values of a magnetic compass, which is built into a land craft for navigation purposes, and gives the azimuth a of the direction of motion of the vehicle; of a gradiometer giving the elevation e of the direction of motion of the vehicle in relation to the horizon; and of an odometer, giving the distance s travelled. In this method, two visually navigated test drives are carried out in different directions between known point of departure and arrival. The measured values (a, e, s) are replaced by corrected values (a', e', s') in accordance with the following: a'=a+A+B.multidot.sin a+C.multidot.cos a; e'=e-A.sub.2 ; S'=.rho.. The correction parameters are determined by performing a vertorial comparison of the known direction and distance values (a', e', s') with the measured values. The correction parameters are as follows: A for declination and compass mounting errors in azimuth; B, C for hard and soft magnetic vehicle magnetism; A.sub.2 for mounting errors of the gradiometer in elevation; and .rho. for a scale error of the odometer.

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Feldkirch, Austria

Peter Nachbaur