What is the magnetometer heading?
we are going to use a magnetometer for our project for attitude determination. can someone expalin the concept of heading? what is heading?
Heading is the angle of a vehicle, vessel or aircraft in relation to true North given in degrees.
Course Navigation
BigDog
o! thank u....what kind of relation does it have with yaw, roll and pitch axis of a satellite?
None.
Yaw, Pitch and Roll describe the orientation of the aircraft or vessel about its axises from a defined state of equilibrium.
Flight dynamics
They have no relationship at all with the True North.
BigDog
ok...if the output of magnetometer is just the heading value and i ahve igrf data to compre with..how do i perform attitude correction? because igrf gives magnetic field in 3 coordinate axes.
I think there is a chance for some confusion developing here. The Wikipedia link is technically correct in the sense that it describes magnetic and true headings, but it also implies that pilots use true headings. That is generally incorrect. Almost all headings in aviation are magnetic headings. That is why runway numbers may change, even though the runway was not physically moved.
Another complication arises because the compass in an airplane is floating. Its bearings are affected by acceleration of the aircraft. Climbing, descending and turning affect the readings. Here is a link to a discussion of some of those errors: Magnetic Compass
As to the proposal to use magnetic lines to determine attitude, I think that could be quite difficult. Perhaps it would help us understand what is planned, if prsk would describe more the type of magnetometer and how it will be suspended in the aircraft. As a thought experiment, consider what will happen to the attitude indication when you fly directly over the magnetic pole?
John