Attitude Heading Reference System (AHRS)

AHRS is a project managed by Spin.Works and co-developed by FEUP/INESC Porto and UMinho to develop an advanced Attitude Heading Reference System based on high accuracy MEMS for unmanned vehicles. The project is co-funded by ON2, QREN and FEDER.

PROJECT GOALS

• Develop and implement a MEMS-based low-cost, high-performance Attitude Heading Reference System based on FPGA components
• Develop and characterize innovative, high-performance, low-cost silicon-based microsensors
• Develop and implement high-speed digital filters to remove sensor noise
• Develop statistical requirements analysis tools for component selection and performance prediction
• Develop and implement AHRS navigation algorithm
• Calibrate sensors and perform system tests

APPLICATIONS

• Unmanned Systems, in particular:
  • Robots
  • Ground vehicles
  • Aerial vehicles
• Future Space Systems

SENSOR DEVELOPMENT (LED BY UMINHO)

• R&D on innovative high-performance, low cost MEMS accelerometer
• Fabrication and characterization of initial sensor hardware
• Production of preliminary testbench, including sensors, power conditioning, ADC components and external interfaces

DIGITAL FILTERING (LED BY FEUP/INESC PORTO)

• Development of high-speed (1kHz) digital filters for MEMS inertial sensors
• FPGA-based implementation of SPI-based interfaces between the sensor A/D converters and the data processing board
• Production of interface board between the sensors and the FPGA
• Implementation and testing of navigation filter on FPGA-embedded PowerPC

NAVIGATION ALGORITHM (LED BY SPIN.WORKS)

• Development of Covariance Analysis tool for requirements analysis
• Adaptation of high-fidelity UAV simulation tool as software test bench for realistic sensor data generation and preliminary navigation filter performance assessment
• Development of Extended Kalman Filter (EKF)-based navigation algorithm
• Sensor calibration using automated platform

ANALYSIS TOOLS & TEST BENCHES

• Requirements Analysis tool – statistical analysis tool for component pre-selection
• Synthetic Sensor Data Generation tool – an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle-based high-fidelity 6DOF simulation tool
• Sensor Calibration Platform – servo-assisted platform for automated sensor calibration
• Integrated AHRS System Demonstrator – consisting of a sensor board, an interface board, and an FPGA-based data processing board