An enhanced multi-position calibration method for consumer-grade inertial measurement units applied and tested

An accurate inertial measurement unit (IMU) is a necessity when considering an inertial navigation system capable of giving reliable position and velocity estimates even for a short period of time. However, even a set of ideal gyroscopes and accelerometers does not imply an ideal IMU if its exact mechanical characteristics (i.e. alignment and position information of each sensor) are not known. In this paper, the standard multi-position calibration method for consumer-grade IMUs using a rate table is enhanced to exploit also the centripetal accelerations caused by the rotation of the table. Thus, the total number of measurements rises, making the method less sensitive to errors and allowing use of more accurate error models. As a result, the accuracy is significantly enhanced, while the required numerical methods are simple and efficient. The proposed method is tested with several IMUs and compared to existing calibration methods.