Parameter Identification for Two-Axis Gimbal System and Its Kinematic Calibration

This paper presents a parameter identification procedure for two-axis gimbal system and its kinematic calibration. The quality of gimbal system used for tracking, aiming or positioning highly depends on accuracy of its line-of-sight (LOS). A model of non-orthogonal two-axis gimbal system is introduced in the text. A kinematic calibration for identifying the model’s parameters is shown as a step-by-step algorithm. Forward and inverse kinematic problems considered herein are used to express potential non-orthogonality conditions between the axes among other errors captured in the transformation matrices. Results of numerical experiments, which take into account randomized errors, show the potential of the proposed calibration algorithm to improve system accuracy.