Cables or slip-rings are often used to power loads on a rotating unit in the rotation modulated inertial navigation system (RMINS). However, these power supply methods have the disadvantages of cable winding and slip ring friction and wear, which reduces the reliability and life of the RMINS. Therefore, this paper applies magnetic coupling resonant wireless power transfer (MCRWPT) technology to the RMINS to avoid the shortcomings of the above power supply methods. Furthermore, according to the structure and working characteristics of the RMINS, a simple design method of the MCRWPT system without any feedback control is proposed. Based on the ANSYS simulation, the magnetic shielding structure is designed to reduce magnetic leakage, and the efficiency of the MCRWPT system is optimized by designing the excitation frequency. Experiments verify the effectiveness of the proposed method. The experimental results show that the designed MCRWPT system can achieve an efficiency of 74.6% with an output power of 10 W and has been successfully applied to the uniaxial rotation module inertial navigation system. Finally, the design method of the MCRWPT system is simple, and it has guiding significance for the design of the wireless power transfer system in the RMINS.

Calibration and compensation techniques are essential to improve the accuracy of the strap-down inertial navigation system. Especially for the new uniaxial rotation module inertial navigation system (URMINS), replacing faulty uniaxial rotation modules introduces installation errors between modules and reduces navigation accuracy. Therefore, it is necessary to calibrate these systems effectively and compensate for the installation error between modules. This paper proposes a new self-calibration and compensation method for installation errors without additional information and equipment. Using the attitude, velocity, and position differences between the two sets of navigation information output from URMINS as measurements, a Kalman filter is constructed and the installation error is estimated. After URMINS is compensated for the installation error, the average of the demodulated redundant information is taken to calculate the carrier’s navigation information. The simulation results show that the proposed method can effectively assess the installation error between modules with an estimation accuracy better than 5”. Experimental results for static navigation show that the accuracy of heading angle and positioning can be improved by 73.12% and 81.19% after the URMINS has compensated for the estimated installation errors. Simulation and experimental results further validate the effectiveness of the proposed self-calibration and compensation method.

In global navigation satellite system (GNSS) denied and low-light nighttime environments, it is challenging to achieve accurate and robust attitude determination of unmanned systems. Inspired by nocturnal insects, this paper presents an autonomous navigation approach that relies on the composite light field (CLF), comprising the lunar-reflected radiance field (LRF) and the polarized light field (PLF). Subsequently, a CLF attitude and heading reference system (CLF-AHRS) is developed. The system enables the synchronous acquisition of both LRF and PLF, while a two-level robust fusion scheme is employed. By incorporating horizontal attitude information from the inclinometer, the method ensures reliable nighttime navigation, especially in cases where the LRF is subject to occlusion. Both simulations and outdoor experiments demonstrate that the proposed approach effectively addresses the limitations of LRF when affected by occlusion interference. Compared to the PLF-based method, it achieves a significant improvement in accuracy under both physical occlusion and cloud interference. Furthermore, the system inherently eliminates volumetric redundancy and systemic errors that are typically induced by distributed multi-optical sensor configuration. These developments substantially enhance the robustness and adaptability of navigation for unmanned systems in complex and constrained nighttime environments.

Polarization navigation has been proven to be a remarkably effective strategy for unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs) in heading determination. However, it is difficult for existing schemes to deal with dynamic refraction and uncertain multiple scattering, deteriorating navigation accuracy. This article proposes an underwater tightly-coupled method using original differential light intensity to determine heading in the presence of hybrid uncertain disturbances. In order to reduce the modeling error caused by underwater disturbances, we develop a tightly-coupled model employing original differential light intensity, in which the direct relationship between differential polarization and attitudes is investigated. Meanwhile, the compensation factor is introduced into the tightly-coupled model to deal with nonvertical errors induced by underwater hybrid optical effects. In view of measurement uncertainty in underwater polarization, adaptive parameter adjustment is implemented by variational Bayesian (VB) to optimize the state estimation, which benefits the reliability and robustness of the system. Both simulation and ocean tests are carried out to demonstrate the feasibility and superiority of the proposed method.