Combined multisensor alignment and track filtering on a single platform

A new procedure is introduced which allows the alignment of multiple sensors on a single platform and the successive incorporation of the aligned sensor data into a multisensor tracking filter whose details are also described. It is assumed that the sensors are noncollocated with known separations and that their detection data on correlated tracks is transferred to a central point (i.e., metacenter on a Naval platform) for composite tracking. A least squares algorithm is employed which minimizes the sum of the square deviations of the transferred data at the metacenter. The deviations at the metacenter are in stable or inertial x,y,z coordinates (i.e., East, North, and Zenith), and allowance is made for a rolling and pitching marine platform with a specified heading. For convenience, a reference sensor is selected, with assumed zero biases, and each of the other sensors is aligned to the reference sensor pair-wise using this procedure