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Abstract
A four‐antenna GPS attitude determination system was used to estimate roll, pitch, and heading parameters of a 52‐meter surveying vessel in an operational marine environment. The least squares algorithm for platform attitude estimation using multiple baseline vector observables is presented. An efficient on‐the‐fly carrier phase ambiguity searching method is derived, which utilizes the Cholesky decomposition method and the known baseline constraints between the GPS antennas to construct the potential ambiguity sets on the sphere. The accuracy of the estimated attitude parameters from the GPS multi‐antenna system was assessed with an independent inertial navigation system (INS). Results from sea trials show that the proposed GPS multi‐antenna system and processing algorithms delivered a satisfactory performance under various ship maneuvers. The accuracy of GPS estimated ship attitude parameters is better than 0.06 degrees at an output rate of 10 Hz. Such a performance demonstrates a new alternative means to provide accurate, reliable, and cost‐effective ship attitude information for hydrographic applications.