A New Approach to Spatio-temporal Calibration of Multi-sensor Systems

The purpose of this paper is to propose new, rigorous, more robust and reliable models and methods for the calibration and orientation of multi-sensor systems with INS/GPS data. On the one hand, the classical spatial sensor orientation and calibration problem is reformulated as a relative control problem by transferring the relative orientation of an Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) between two epochs to the relative orientation of a rigidly attached sensor between the same two epochs. This approach eliminates the need for the IMU-to-sensor relative orientation [boresight] calibration parameter. On the other hand, a rigorous 4D —spatio-temporal— model, based on the full exploitation of the INS/GPS-derived control data, is introduced. The paper discusses the key ideas behind both proposed approaches, presents the corresponding mathematical models, identifies some of their advantages, and demonstrates their potential through real data.