Inertial Explorer®

NovAtel Inertial Explorer®

Categories: GNSS, Navigation & Positioning, Post Processing Software, Precision Survey Instrumentation

Description

Inertial Explorer® (IE) maximizes the performance of your GNSS/INS hardware by ensuring you get the position, velocity and attitude accuracy your application requires. The tightly coupled integration of GNSS and IMU data delivers precise results, even when lower grade inertial sensors are used. IE can produce results suitable for demanding applications such as mobile mapping, aerial and hydrographic surveying. IMU data from high-end Fibre Optic Gyro (FOG) or Ring Laser Gyro (RLG) IMUs, and from lower grade sensor technology such as Micro Electrical Mechanical Systems (MEMS) can be processed.

Flexible Workflow Capabilities

IE has workflows to match your business and your expertise. A project wizard is available to allow new GNSS/INS users to become productive quickly. For more experienced users, a wealth of processing configuration options are available. Automated processing environment detection (aerial, ground vehicle, pedestrian and marine) allows appropriate GNSS + INS processing settings to be used automatically to simplify workflow and reduce the learning curve needed to start producing quality results.

Features

Full dual frequency GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou, Galileo and QZSS support
Configurable support of L1+L2 (includes E5b, B2I) or L1+L5 (includes E5a, B3I) for different applications
Support for up to 32 base stations
Attitude corrections are automatically applied for the effect of the deflections of the vertical using a geopotential model of the Earth based on EGM2008
Boresight module for solving angular offsets between IMU and camera frames
Loosely and tightly coupled GNSS/INS processing
Flexible ASCII Export Wizard included
Direct output to Google Earth, RIEGL POF/POQ, DXF, and SBET format
Build HTML QC reports
Boresight computation between the IMU and vehicle frame for users that require attitude output relative to the vehicle frame
Velocity constraints for best pedestrian and ground vehicle results in challenging GNSS signal conditions

Benefits

Easy integration with our SPAN® GNSS/INS products
Streamlined Project Wizard for quick startup
Single step GNSS and Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) processing for efficient workflow
Built-in processing profiles for airborne, ground, pedestrian, UAV and marine projects
Support for multiple base stations
Precise Point Positioning (PPP) processing

Powerful Post-Processing

Inertial Explorer runs within our familiar Waypoint GrafNav processing environment and data analysis is performed with the same plotting tools. Inertial Explorer supports the following two processing modes:

Loosely Coupled (LC): The GNSS trajectory is first processed and the resulting time-stamped position and velocity updates are passed to the loosely coupled processor. In this two-stage mode, users can extensively QC their processed GNSS-trajectory prior to LC processing.
Tightly Coupled (TC): In this mode, GNSS and INS data are processed simultaneously. This mode is generally favoured in challenging GNSS conditions as it maximizes GNSS availability, as phase updates (which form the distance and direction traveled between epochs) can be applied where as few as two satellites are available. This serves to significantly limit inertial error growth in the absence of a full GNSS position update.

It is the user’s responsibility to time tag each set of inertial measurements to the GPS time frame during the data collection process. NovAtel’s SPAN® technology offers this. For more information on SPAN, click here.

Options

TerraStar-NRT

TerraStar-NRT is a multi-constellation correction service that enables centimetre-level accuracy in post-processing without the need for a base station. High rate satellite clock and orbit products are uploaded to a NovAtel server every 15 minutes to allow for post-processing almost immediately after data collection. When used with the PPP-AR Engine with NovAtel receivers, it provides better horizontal accuracies for short duration surveys. A TerraStar-NRT license is available as a yearly subscription and must be activated in Waypoint Software through the local license manager to use.

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