Most Recent researches of Land Vehicular navigation systems focus on using Global position System
(GPS) integrated with Inertial Navigation System (INS), which depends on a large size tools and of high cost.
Recently, traditional (INS) instruments has been modified and developed by a new technology known as Micro
Electro Mechanical System (MEMS). This research aims to create an alternative independent navigation system
of low-cost and locally available components to give a suitable precision for navigational works. This system
consists of (rotary shaft encoders) as sensors, for measuring distances and directions, instead of the
accelerometers and gyroscopes used in the INS. Several preliminary experiments had been made, where, the
obtained results were modest. To improve the precision of these results, data were processed through a program
designed especially for this purpose, where two closed loop experiments were conducted at nearly horizontal
plane areas, the first experiment was a loop of about 200 m length and the second had an approximately 800 m
loop length. The closing errors of the two loops were about 1:80, which is considered acceptable for an initial
prototype system used for navigation works. Therefore, the final results of this research showed that the (Rotary
shaft encoders) had been used as a main part of a simple dead reckoning navigational system, which means that
the shaft encoder was used for measuring distances and measuring directions for the first time. |
