Three-dimensional tracking using on-board measurements

The development of a three-dimensional tracker using onboard measurements is described. A system model based on aircraft dynamics is derived. A full 3-D tracking system that can be split, with a part operating onboard and a part operating on the ground, is developed. Attitude angle and aircraft airspeed measurements are processed to estimate the components of the aircraft velocity with respect to the surrounding air. These are then used to obtain estimates of the aircraft position and ground speed. The tracker is designed so that the number of quantities transmitted to the ground station is kept to a minimum. The tracker was evaluated with real data and was found to perform well, resulting in a considerable improvement over the conventional first-order Kalman filter