Inertial Coordinate Systems [LN -6 ]

[This lecture note is an introduction to various coordinate frames used for navigation and also their
significance with respect to Inertial Navigation System ]

The Earth-Centered, Earth-Fixed Frame is global, attached to Earth itself, and always uses both cartesian
and polar coordinates. The Local Geographic Frame is attached to Earth but based at where the aircraft
currently is. It uses either of two different Cartesian coordinate systems. The Aircraft Frame is fixed to
the aircraft and uses three Cartesian axes, but tends to describe measurements by angles about these
axes.

Local Horizon

Figure 1: The Earth-Centered, Earth-Fixed frame can take a set of Cartesian axes X, Y,Z with their origin
at Earth’s centre. The X-axis points to the 0 ◦ latitude, 0 ◦ longitude point. The Y -axis points to 0 ◦
latitude, 90 ◦ longitude. The Z-axis points to 90 ◦ latitude, along Earth’s axis of rotation. Earth’s surface is
taken to be an oblate spheroid, i.e. having circular cross section at all latitudes, and a constant elliptical
cross section through any meridian.

The axes of the ECEF are right handed and have their origin at the centre of Earth, being fixed to its
body: they rotate with it. They are quite adequate for describing situations on Earth, but are not so
useful for describing satellite motion, such as scenarios that involve the GPS satellite system. The reason
is because the ECEF frame is not quite inertial: because of its rotation, The ECEF has two common
coordinate systems: a polar-type “latitude–longitude– height” called geodetic coordinates, and the
simpler three cartesian axes X,Y,Z that are shown in Figure 1. Global positions are often given in lat–
long–height coordinates, but since X,Y,Z are far easier to work with, we’ll convert all lat–long–height to
X,Y,Z. A shape for Earth commonly used in calculations is the oblate spheroid specified by the World
Geodetic System 1984 standard (WGS-84), which has a circular cross section at any given latitude, and
whose cross section through any meridian is an ellipse, having identical axes lengths for all longitudes.
These axes lengths are, by definition,

Semi-major: a = 6,378,137 m

Semi-minor: b = 6,356,752.3142 m.

Any point has latitude α, longitude ω, and height h in this report. The latitude and longitude are shown
in Figure 2, while the height of the point is the distance above the reference spheroid, i.e. along a line
normal to it, not along a line extending from Earth’s center. The reason the latitude is defined with
reference to the local normal and not Earth’s center, is because by using the local normal, we can be
sure that if two points on the same meridian have latitudes of say 10◦ and 50◦, then the normal line (i.e.
the local vertical) is guaranteed to rotate through 40◦ when passing from one to the other. So it’s very
easy to compute how the vertical changes over Earth’s surface, and this would not be the case if latitude
was measured relative to Earth’s center. Given lat-long-height values for any point, the corresponding X,
Y,Z values are given in terms of a and b by:

Latitude is calculated iteratively since direct inversion is not accurate. First calculate latitude using
equation below :-

Then use below expression for accurate results

For height calculation we can use

Local Geographic Frame (N E D frame )

Figure 2:

A plane tangent to Earth’s hypothetical spheroidal surface contains the local East and North directions,
which set those axes for the North–East– Down frame. The Down axis is normal to this plane. The
latitude α of the point at the origin of the NED frame is set by the angle at which the Down axis
intercepts Earth’s equatorial plane. Because Earth is modeled as an oblate spheroid, the Down axis only
points toward its centre when the NED origin is on the equator or at the poles. An alternative set of axes
is East–North–Up

Body axis /Frame

 Wind axis And Its relation to Body axis

Figure 3: The x, y, z axes of the aircraft’s own frame. These are axes about which the aircraft
rolls (x), pitches (y), and yaws (z), where the direction of positive rotation for each is given by the right
hand rule .

Co Ordinate Conversion Procedure ( simple )

Figure 5: Constructing local north–east–down axes N,E,D at a given point of known latitude and
longitude. Start with the three vectors N0,E0,D0.Construct the intermediate set N1,E1,D1 by rotating
the original set through the longitude ω about N0. Then rotate N1,E1,D1 about −E1 by the latitude α,
according to the right hand rule, to give the final set N,E,D. Or equivalently, rotate the intermediate
set about E1 through minus the latitude.

The resulting vectors are the local North–East–Down( N ED ) axes.

The choice of a coordinate system for a specific navigation or mechanization depends
on many considerations. For example, in many inertial navigation systems latitude ,
longitude , and altitude are the desired outputs, and consequently the system are
designed to give these outputs directly. There are generally six fundamental
coordinate frames of interest for expressing motion relative to some frame of
reference: (I) True inertial, (2) earth-centered inertial, (3) earth-centered earth-fixed.
(4) navigation. (5) body, (6) wander azimuth frames. These coordinate frames are
orthogonal, right-handed. Cartesian frames and differ in the location of the
origin, the relative orientation of the axes, and the relative motion between the
frames. The inter relationship between the various coordinate systems is
illustrated in Fig. below .
The true inertial frame is the only reference frame in which Newton's laws of motion
are valid. Newton's laws are also valid in Galilean frames (i.e., those that do not rotate
with respect to one another and which are uniformly translating in space). This is a
larger class than one whose absolute motion is zero; however, they too are
impractical for use as practical reference frames. Newton assumed that there was a
frame of reference whose absolute motion was zero. Furthermore, Newton considered
such an inertial frame (fixed relative to the stars) to be one of absolute zero motion,
and his laws of motion to be valid when referred to such a reference frame. Since
Newton's time, controversies regarding the existence of such a reference frame of
absolute zero motion led to the formulation of the theories of relativity for which
Newtonian mechanics is a special case. The true inertial frame consists of a set of
mutually perpendicular axes that neither accelerate nor rotate with respect to
inertial space. The true inertial frame is not a practical reference frame; it is used
only for visualization of other reference frames.

Earth-Centered Inertial (ECI) Frame

This basic frame has its origin at the earth's center of mass and is nonrotating relative
to the inertial space (i.e., the "fixed stars"). However, this frame accelerates with
respect to inertial space since it moves with the earth. As the earth rotates and
moves about the sun, the inertial frame appears to an earth-fixed observer to be
rotating at a rate that is the combination of the earth's rotational rate Ω and the
earth's position about the sun (Julian Day). At the start of the navigation mode, the
x,-y, axes of this frame lie in the earth's equatorial plane with the x, axis typically
defined toward a star and the z, axis is aligned with the earth's spin axis. For this
reason, it is also called earth-centered inertial (ECI) frame. It should he pointed out
that this frame does not rotate with the earth. Theoretically, axes that are fixed to the
earth are not inertial axes per se, because of the various modes of motion that the
earth exhibits relative to the "fixed space." The most important of these non inertial
influences are (1) daily rotation of the earth about its polar axis, (2) monthly rotation
of the earth-moon system about its common mass or barycenter, (3) precession of
the earth's polar axis about a line fixed in space, (4) motion of the sun with respect
to the galaxy, and (5) irregularities in the polar precession (or nutation). The inertial
frame is important in that Newton's laws are approximately correct in this frame, and
that for vehicles navigating in the vicinity of the earth, computations of specific
force are performed in this frame.

Earth-Centered Earth-Fixed (ECEF) Frame

The ECEF frame (also referred as Geocentric Frame , has the origin at center of the
Earth . This frame, unlike ECI , rotates with the earth. and coincides with the
inertial frame once every 24 h (actually once every sidereal day). The rotation of
the earth with respect to the ECI frame, (ΩΔt), is about the same axis and in the
same sense as the longitude. The Ze axis is pointing towards North along the polar
axis. while the Xe and Ye axes are in the equatorial plane with the x, axis
directed through the Greenwich Meridian (00 latitude, O0 longitude). and the Ye,
axis is directed through 900 east longitude.

Navigation Frame (n)

The navigation frame (also called the geographic Frame has its origin at the
location of the inertial navigation system. This is a local-level frame with its Xn and
Yn axes in a plane tangcnt to the reference ellipsoid and Zn axis perpendicular to
that ellipsoid. Typically. the Zn axis will point north, the Xn axis east, and the Yn axis
down (or up) depending on the coordinate convention . It should be pointed out
that the largest class of inertial navigation systems is the local-level type. where
the stable platform is constrained with two axes in the horizontal plane. In the
past, many INS have been built using the local-level mechanization , mainly due to
the error compensation simplifications of maintaining constant platform alignment
to the gravity vector. It does suffer from singularity in Polar Region .

Body Frame (b)

This coordinate frame has its origin at the vehicle (e.g., aircraft, ship Missiles or
Rockets) center of mass. This is a convenient coordinate system for developing the
equations of motion of a vehicle, since the vehicle equations of motion are normally
written in the body axes coordinate frame. In Aircraft/Missile applications, the
convention is to choose the Xb axis pointing along the vehicle’s longitudinal axis
(the roll axis). the Yb axis along the right wing (the pitch axis), and the Zb axis
pointing down (the yaw axis). The body axis is typically used in Strap down (or
inertial systems.

Wander-Azimuth Frame (c)

This coordinate frame is a special case of the navigation frame, also known as the
computational frame, has its origin at the system's location, and is coincident
with the origin of the navigation frame. The horizontal axes of this (Xc Yc Zc) local-
level geodetic wander-azimuth frame lie in a plane tangent to the local vertical.
This frame is maintained "locally level" and is defined with respect to the earth
frame by three successive Euler angle rotations (longitude λ , geodetic latitude Φ,
and wander angle α). Latitude is defined to be positive in the northern hemisphere,
and the wander angle is defined to be positive west of true north and measured
in the geodetic horizon plane. If the wander angle is zero, this frame will be aligned
with the navigational (or geographic) frame.

It can be seen that when the geodetic latitude, longitude, and wander angle are zero,
the (Xc Yc Zc axes will be aligned with the Xe Ye Ze of the earth-fixed frame. Because
of its importance. Now a days many INS system are mechanized in this coordinate
frame due to simplicity in torqueing the gyroscope .

Co ordinate Transformation ( Given without Proof )

The transformation of measurements from one coordinate system to another is carried
through Euler angles of rotation . The Euler angles ( 3 angles) uniquely define the
transformation and known as Direction Cosine Matrix( DCM). This is an orthogonal
matrix and is not commutative.

Euler angle transformation matrix

The orientation of the rigid hody is thus completely specified by the three roll
pitch , yaw angles i.e.Φ , θ , ψ. In the rotation sequence is unique , the resultant
matrix is denoted as Cab .Ranges for the Euler angles are – П< ψ< П , –П/2 <θ<П/2
and –П<Φ<П.

Transformation Sequence

Rate of Change of DCM

It is given as :-
The designation Ωabb denotes the angular velocity of the b-frame relative to the a-
frame, coordinatized in the b frame. The above equation is a linear, matrix
differential equation, which can be represented by nine scalar, linear, coupled
differential equations, forced by the scalar components of the angular velocity vector
ωabb. This equation is easily integrated with the initial conditions C ab(t0), where the
initial conditions represent the initial orientation.

Angular velocity Transformation

This is given as under : -

The above equation shows difficulty in the use of Euler angles for expressing
orientations. For example, as the pitch angle θ approaches +/-900 , the roll rate Φ,
and yaw rate ψ. become undefined because of the terms (cosθ )-1 and tan θ. This
is the so-called gimbal-lock problem, which if not solved would obviously severely
limit the usefulness of any gimbaled inertial navigation system. An alternative method
is based on Quaternions a 4 angle Euler Parameter.

Earth Rotation Rate or Sidereal Rate

The earth rate vector here is given with respect to a North East ,Up coordinate
system.

λ is the longitude and Φ is the geographic latitude. The earth rotation rate
can be written as ( Ref Fig above)
 Ωie = 0.i + Ωy j + Ωz k where Ωy = Ωie cos Φ and Ωz = Ωie sin Φ

Earth Inertial to earth fixed Transformation

It can be seen that the i-frame is related to the e-frame by the earth rate and the time
of the year (Julian Day). This relationship is defined by the sidereal hour angle

Earth-Fixed to Navigation ( with Origin at System location ).

The navigation axes (Xn, Yn ,Zn) are commonly aligned with the north, east, up (or
down) directions. For the present transformation, we will assume that the Xn axis
points in the up direction, the Yn axis points east. and the Zn. axis points north
This transformation, Cen, is realized by two rotations: one through the angle λ about
the Ze. axis, and the other through the angle Φ about the Ye axis.

Earth-Fixed to Wander-Azimuth

The wander azimuth frame Xc ,Yc , Zc has its Xc, axis pointing α degrees from
north. the Yc axis pointing east and the Zc axis is perpendicular to the surf.ace of
thc reference ellipsoid (if h = 0). The horizontal axes Xc ,Yc , Zc are displaced from the
east and north axes by thc wander angle α. The wander angle is taken to he
positive west of true north. When the latitude (Φ). longitude (λ). and wander angle
(α) arc zero, the (Xc ,Yc , Zc ) axes are aligned with Xe ,Ye , Ze of the earth-fixed frame.
The sequence of rotations is (i) a positive rotation of λ about Yc (ii) a negative rotation
of Φ about the displaced Xc, axis. and (iii) a positive rotation of α about the
displaced Zc, axis.

r = Cce re also

Quaternions :Quaternions are an interesting mathematical concept with a deep relationship

with the foundations of algebra and number theory Invented by W.R.Hamilton in 1843.In
practice, they are most useful to us as a means of representing orientations. A quaternion has 4
components
i 2  j 2  k 2  ijk  1
q  q0  q1  q2  q3  1
2 2 2 2

i  jk  kj
q  q0  iq1  jq2  kq3 j  ki  ik
k  ij   ji
A quaternion can be represented as a vector rotation as depicted below :-

q  q0 q3      
q1 q2 q  cos a x sin a y sin a z sin 
 2 2 2 2
or
 
q  cos , a sin
2 2

q  q02  q12  q22  q32

   
 cos 2  a x2 sin 2  a y2 sin 2  a z2 sin 2
2 2 2 2
 
 cos 2
2
 sin 2
2
a 2
x  a y2  a z2 
   
 cos 2  sin 2 a  cos 2  sin 2
2

2 2 2 2
 1 1
The transformation Matrix as Euler matrix can be written as

1  2q22  2q32 2q1 q 2 2q 0 q 3 2q1 q 3 2q 0 q 2 

 
2q1 q 2 2q 0 q 3 1  2q1  2q3 2q 2 q 3 2q 0 q1 
2 2

2q1 q 3 2q 0 q 2 2q 2 q 3 2q 0 q1 1  2q12  2q22 

 
It is interesting to find the Trace of this matrix

t= 4 q02 -1 or q0 = ½ √1+t

Selecting (-180,180) to be the range of a rotation angle implies that the cosine of one
half of any value in this range will always be positive , hence q0, will be positive.

Quaternion Dynamics

The differential of quaternion is defined as a small change in time

Let us say that in small interval of time the angular velocity is

Here U is unit vector .

Which will lead to

under the limiting condition we have

Similarly the Euler angles dynamics can be found out . which is given as :-

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