Importance

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Abstract

The global positioning system (GPS) compass is consisted of three main units. These units are the pointer, the sensor, and the controller. The pointer unit is comprised of an iron frame, an aluminum bar, and two aluminum plates. The sensor unit is comprised of global positioning system (GPS) receivers and global positioning system (GPS) antennas. The controller unit includes a personal computer, a stepping motor, several data interface circuit boards, and some motor control circuit boards. The baseline of the pointer is an aluminum bar of about one meter long. The sensor unit can measure the baseline's azimuth angle relative to the local coordinate. When command is received, the controller unit is capable of turning the aluminum bar to the desired direction by the aid of the stepping motor. There are two modes for operation available. One is the initial mode, the other is the normal mode. It takes about one or two minutes to complete the initial mode operation. In this mode, adjustment values needed in the algorithm for normal mode can be obtained upon rotating the aluminum bar at the baseline. The purpose of the initial mode is similar to an instrument calibration. In the normal mode, the global positioning system (GPS) compass can point itself to the desired direction in real time operation. In this invention, the combined use of attitude determination algorithm and stepping motor controlling technique, results in pointing deviation from accuracy to be less than 1 degree.

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First Claim