I.

INTRODUCTION

A Strapdown Inertial Navigation

System for the Flat-Earth Model

N. LOVREN
J. K. PIEPER University of Calgary

The development of a strapdown inertial navigation system (SINS) for aerodynamically controlled vehicles, which are linlited to altitudes below 30 km (that is, a small distance compared with the Earths radius of about 7000 km), or using the so-called flat-Earth nmdel (PEM), is the principal objective of this work.
In dealing with the FEM equations, the north, east, down (NED)

frame on the surface of the Earth is taken as a n inertial reference frame. Although, this frame is both accelerating and rotating, the accelerations associated with the Earths rotation are negligible compared with the acceleration that can be produced by a manewering aircraft. Also, in this model, the gravity is taken as constant. In developing the SINS for the FEM, the aerodynamic force and moment have dominant roles, depending primarily on such variables as the angle of attack and sideslip, their derivatives, components of the angular velocity of the aircraft, and the control inpiits. On the other hand, the SINS deals with such variables as the small-angle rotation vectors. Thus, it was necessary to link both set of variables a s state variables of the strapdown PEM, as is done in this work. The developed model is relevant for small (less than 20) angles of attack and sideslip.

Manuscript received June 9, 1995; revised November 27, 1995.

IEEE Log NO. T-AESB3/1/01088.

Authors address: Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2N 1N4. 0018-9251/97/$10.00 @ 1997 IEEE
214

The evolution of inertial navigation systems (INS) has led from the development of the geometric, semianalytic to the strapdown (analytic) navigation systems [l]. The developed INS, for example, [2-111, are related to the so-called around-Earth model (AEM). That is, they have mostly focused on the effect of the Earths rotation and the variation of the gravitational field. However, strapdown configurations for the flat-Earth model (FEM) have focused on the effect of the aerodynamic force and moment [12]. In [12j the authors present both flat-Earth and around-Earth models, and it is shown that for a maneuvering aircraft the induced error as a result of using the simpler FEM is negligible. This type of comparison is not found in [lj, however, details are given there to allow estimation of the induced error. The use of the FEM can be compared with flight in one grid section of the Universal Transverse Mercator grid described in [l]. This work presents the development of the strapdown configuration for the FEM which incorporates both large and small scale motions of the aircraft. This task is accomplished in four sections. In the development of the aircraft equations of motion for the strapdown FEM (SFEM), it is necessary to use three coordinate frames: the inertial, body, and wind-velocity frames [13]. The coordinate frames of an appropriate reference trajectory are called the desired body (b) and desired wind-velocity frame (w). The coordinate frames of the actual trajectory are called the true body (b) and true wind-velocity frame (w). Also, all variables related to the reference trajectory are called desired and all variables related to the actual trajectory are called true. Since, in the strapdown configuration, a specific force (sum of aerodynamic force and thrust divided by mass of the aircraft), is often called nongravitational acceleration, and angular velocity of the aircraft (body) are usualy measured by the inertial instruments in the b-frame, the force and moment equations are expressed in the body frame. Aerodynamic coefficients (dimensionless derivatives) are usually known in the w frame, therefore, the aerodynamic force can be calculated in this frame, and then acceleration can be interpreted through its tangential and normal components; the w frame is convenient for expression of the dynamics of translational motion. Section I1 presents these equations of motion coordinatized in the body and wind-velocity coordinate frames. Based on an established transformation matrix between the b and w frames [13], through the angle of attack and sideslip and a definition of the small-angle transformation between two almost coincident coordinate frames, linearization has resulted in a solution for the small-angle rotation vector as a

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TABLE I Interpretation of Small-Angle Rotation Vectors Angle Interpretation

@ i
8

A of w aiid w' franies w r t to b frame A of b aiid b' fraiiies w r t to inertial frame A of w aiid w' frames w r t to inertial frame

function of the perturbation errors of the angle of attack and sideslip [13]. In [13], a small-angle rotation vector that interprets the small-attitude difference between two positions of the wind-velocity frame at the desired and true trajectory with respect to the body frame is denoted by $; a small-angle rotation vector that interprets the small-attitude difference between two positions of the body frame at the desired and true trajectory with respect to inertial frame is denoted by $; a small-angle rotation vector that interprets the small-attitude difference between two positions of the wind-velocity frame at the desired and true trajectory with respect to the inertial frame is denoted by 8. These definitions are summarized in Table I. Also, vector differential equations for propagation the small-angle rotation vectors (errors), psi, phi, theta, have been derived in [13]. The linearized force equations in the wind-velocity frame are derived in Section 111. Since the angular velocity of the body and the specific force are measured in the body frame, they are transformed into the wind-velocity frame. Linearization is taken on the transformed terms of the specific force and angular velocity involving the small-angle rotation vector 4, as defined through the angle of attack and sideslip. Also, linearization is accomplished on the transformed specific gravity vector via the small-rotation vector lo. In this way, the linearization of the force equation involves the small-rotation vectors $ and $, as well as errors in specific force measured by accelerometers and errors in angular velocity measured by the gyros both in the body frame. A similar expression of the linearized force equations for the AEM has been derived in 151. Definitions of the aerodynamic coefficients (dimensionless and dimensional derivatives) are the same as in [lo] and [12] and are listed in this work. Next, attention is devoted to the linearization of moment equations. Dynamic equations of the rotational motion of the aircraft are coordinatized in the body frame since the angular velocity is measured from the gyro package in the b frame. Definitions of the aerodynamic coefficients are the same as in [lo] and [12].
I!.

rotation are negligible compared with the accelerations that can be produced by a maneuvering aircraft. For studies of maneuvering flight over small regions of the Earth's surface and design of appropriate control systems, the FBM is acceptable. In this model, Earth rotation is neglected and gravity is assumed constant. In a strapdown application the specific force and angular velocity of body are measured by instruments in the body frame. Therefore, the equations of motion are expressed in the body coordinate frame as 1121

t, vb is a velocity vector of the center of gravity (CG) of the aircrafi, F b is all external forces acting on the aircraft (aerodynamic forces plus thrust force), g' is the gravity acceleration in the inertial frame, M b is the external moment acting on the aircraft (aerodynamic moment plus thrust moment), slpb is a skew-symmetric matrix formed by the components of the angular velocity vector ufb,C," is a direction cosine matrix which transforms representation from the inertial to the body coordinate frame, r i is a radius vector of the CG of the aircraft with respect to the inertial frame, and J is the moment of inertia matrix

J = -Jxy

In the above equations, the superscripts denote the coordinate frame in which the vectors are coordinatized. The force F b , and moment M b , acting on the aircraft are composed of

ii -2 I:Jx

-Jq

-Jxz

(2)

(3)
where F," is the aerodynamic and F i is the thrust force with components in the b frame, M," is the aerodynamic moment and M i is the moment of the thrust force with components in the b frame. The aerodynamic force in the body coordinate system is

DYNAMIC EQUATIONS

The WED frame is both accelerating and rotating. However, the accelerations associated with the Earth's

where F," is the aerodynamic force in the wind-velocity frame, Ck is the transformation matrix from the w to b frames.
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LOVREN & PIEPER: A STRAPDOWN INERTIAE NAVIGATION SYSTEM FOR THE FLAT-EARTH MODEL

The aerodynamic force F," can be expressed in the wind-velocity coordinate system by

specified in the wind-velocity frame. The aerodynamic coefficients CO, Cy, CL, Cl, C M ,and CN are primarily dependent on a and p and Mach number. The -D -drag force coefficients are to a lesser extent dependent on aircraft (5) angular velocity and control surface deflections as well as specific configuration effects. Propulsive forces will F," = = ~ ] ::;;:l . create moments if the thrust does not act through the These components are defined in terms of CG. Since the body coordinate frame origin is fixed to dimensionless aerodynamic coefficients [12] as, the CG, the gravitational force will not produce any moment. D = qscD A s previously mentioned, the aerodynamic Y = qsc, (6) coefficients are usually measured in the wind-velocity coordinate frame. Therefore, we can find aerodynamic L = qscL forces in these coordinates. The first equation of (1) where q is the free-stream dynamic pressure, S can be resolved in the wind-velocity coordinate frame, is the wing reference area, and CD,Cy, CL are to give the complete set of equations of motion in a dimensionless aerodynamic coefficients. strapdown application as The thrust force due to the propulsion system can li" Q2,w,v" = -Q;vw f " g" have components that act along each of the body axis, and usually act through the CG

[-E]

+ +

(7)
The specific force is defined as where Orw is the skew-symmetric matrix formed by the angular velocity vector of the wind-velocity frame with respect to the body frame with its component in the w frame and is generally unknown. The matrix C: can be written in triad form as C: = (c1 c2 c 3 ) with each element representing a column corresponding to the north, east and down (NED) directions, respectively. In terms of the wind-velocity frame, we are concerned with resolving the gravity forces from the down direction or the third column of the triad only, i.e., with c 3 = (c13 c z ~ 3 3 ) We ~ . assume that changes in density with altitude are negligible and thus the position vector given by ri is unimportant. Thus, (12) can be simplified to

b -

FA b + F; -- m
F$

while the specific force for the wind-velocity axes is

(9) m Assuming that the angle of attack a and sideslip angle /3 are small angles, and FYT = 0, F,, = 0, FxT = FT, the specific force expressed in the wind-velocity frame is approximated by
f" =

+ C r F;

f" =

The aerodynamic moments acting on the aircraft are defined in terms of dimensionless aerodynamic
coefficient and usually expressed for the body axes
Mxb

= qSbC2

MYb = qSbCM
Mzb

(11)
From this information, it is possible to define the state and control vectors as

= qSbCN

where Mxb, Myb, M,b are the rolling, pitching, and yawing moment, respectively. The aerodynamic coefficients for the moment axes, C'l, CM,and CN, have usually been specified for the body axes while the dimensionless coefficients, CO, Cy, and CL, are usually
216

where 6;,i = a,e,r,th are control inputs.

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Ill. LINEARIZED FORCE AND MOMENT EQUATIONS

A.

Force Equations

The motion of the aircraft CG can be described by

0" = -L?2iw,V"

components of the angular velocity in the w frame is equal to the projection of the total difference of the same vector in the b frame. In (27), Awibb can interpret the gyro errors as in [6 or 1 1 1 , which can be expressed as follows A.,",/,

+ f " + g"

(16)

= Kif;

Kofo

+ Ksfs

Kiifi2 + Kiofifo
(28)

where terms are expressed in the wind-velocity frame. This description uses the relation

+ Kisfifs + Kosfofs + Kssf:

a ; =a ; + QT".

(17)

Using the perturbation method to linearize (16), we obtain Ai/" = -ARrwv" - QYwA~" Af" For convenience, (18) is rewritten as
Ali" =

+ Ag".

(18)

where (K;,K,,K,} are the mass unbalance drift coefficients, { Kio,Kis, KO,,Kss} are the compliance drift coefficients. The {fi, f o , f s } are the specific force acting along the gyro input, output, spin axes, respectively. The subscript ' ' 0 ' 'on the left side of (28) indicates that it is assumed that the gyro output axes are aligned along the body frame axes. Linearization of the second term of (21) gives Af" =ACrfb+C,"Afb and again using ACF = - 4 C ; we find Af" = -@"C,Wfb + C r A f b or Rearrangement of (31) gives Af" = Cr(-Ci(awCrfb + A f b ) (32) Af" = 4"f" CrAfb.
(30)

-Qrw AV" + V" A w +~ Af" + Ag"

+

(19)

(29)

where V wis the skew-symmetric matrix of the velocity vector v". Substitution of the differential form of the angular rate vector Aw; = Awiw, Awrw into (19), we find Ai/" = -(Cl;

+ f i r w )AV" + V" A + V" AwCw+ Af " + Ag".

w ~ (20)

(31)

Keeping in mind that the angular velocity of the aircraft and the specific force are measured in the body frame, to further analyze (20) it is useful to note
w; = c;wibb,

ab yields

then substituting the similarity transform C;@"C," = Af" = C'r(-XDbfb + A f b ) (33)

f" = C,wfb.

(21)

Linearization of the first term of (21) gives

where it is possible to interpret (22) A,fb = - G b

awg

= acrw,",

+ cr AW,b,

f +afb

(34)

where ACr = -@"C,W as derived in [13]. In this expression, a" is the skew-symmetric matrix formed of the small-angle rotation vector $", which interprets the small-attitude difference between the true wind-velocity w", and true-mediate wind-velocity frame W' [13]. Substituting this form into (22), and using (21) yields
aW;

= -@"U;

+ cr AW;b,.

(23)

Equation (23) can be rearranged as AUE = cr(-c:@"crW!b

as the total differential of the specific force in the body frame. Equation (33) states that the differential of the components of the specific force in the w frame is equal to the projection of the total differential of the vector of the specific force in the b frame. We now consider the gravity forces, G. Gravity, most naturally expressed in the inertial frame is given in the wind-velocity coordinates as g" = C,Wgi or

+ AW!b). +

(24)

g" = c;c,bg'.
Linearization of (35) yields Ag" = ACrC!gi

(35)

Using the property of similarity (orthogonality) C;@"C,W = Gb and substituting into (24) yields AU$ = cr(-(abW,b, AW,",) or
a U , % =

+ C;

AC,bg'

+ CrC;" Ag'

(36)

(25)
(26)

cc AtW;bb

where the differential of the transformation matrix from inertial to body frames is defined in [13] as AC,b = -sbC;". In this relation, qbis the
skew-symmetric matrix formed of the small-angle

where AtW;bb = -@'Wib,

+ aw,b,

(27)

is the total differential of the angular velocity in the b frame. Equation (26) states that the differential of the

rotation vector qb in the b frame, which describes the small-attitude difference between the true body b' and desired body frame b. We also note that due to the assumed constant gravity, Ag' = 0. Substituting this
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LOVREN & PIEPER A STRAPDOWN INERTIAL NAVIGATION SYSTEM FOR THE FLAT-EARTH MODEL

information and the previously defined AC: = -@"C,W into (36) yields

Ag" = (--@"C,WC,b - C,WqbC,")g'

or

(37)
(38)

The first term on the right-side (41) involves angular velocities. The angular velocity of the wind-velocity frame with respect to the body frame with components in the w frame is given by [13]

Ag" = (-a" - C ~ X P b C $ ) C ~ g L .

Now using the similarity transform C,"qbCt = '@", (38) can be written

(45)

Ag" = -(@"

+ Q")g".
+ n,w,$w.

l j l
If the a and

(39)

p are small, (45) can be written

wrw=

In [13], it was found that the angular rate in the wind-velocity coordinates could be expressed Aw;" = $ P (40)

[ ;I.

-&@

(46)

Finally, the substitution of (23), (31), (39), and (40) into (20) gives A P

+ &"v" = -(Qz + C2rw)Avw + [V'(Q; + orw)+ F" + G"]#" + C;Gbqb + VwC,WAwf' + CW , Afb.
(41)

The angular velocity of the body frame with respect to the inertial frame with its components in the w frame is given by b 02 = Crwib (47) where the transformation matrix C W , is given for small a and 0 as

where F" is defined in (56) and C" is defined in (59). In order to write (41) in scalar form, we need to expand terms. Assuming that the angle of attack a and sideslip p are small, an expression for $ w has been previously derived in [13] as

Using o,bb= [Wxb W y b w z b I T as the angular velocity of the body frame with respect to the inertial frame with components in the b frame, (47) can be written

$"=
Differentiating gives

[ :PI
0

-Aa

(43) Now it is possible to write the left-hand side of (41), the rate of the change of the total velocity error with respect to the body frame, as

The inertial (absolute) angular velocity of the wind-velocity frame is equal to the angular velocity of the body frame plus the angular velocity of the wind-velocity frame with respect to the body frame. Expressed symbolically, we have
w;", = w;

+wrw.
+Wyb

Aliw+&vw=

(50)

Ai,

-A@ -Ad!

!+ :[

: [HI

Using (46) and (49), we get

wxb

+ P ( u y b - &) + a w z b
-p&b
-ffwxb
-

Ci!

+wzb + p

From (51) it is possible to form the skew-symmetric matrix (representing a cross-product with the angular velocity)

2 1 s

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which explicitly details the sum il& = ilz Using this information, the first term of the right-hand side of (41) can be written (representing the magnitude of normal acceleration)

or in skew-symmetric form

Thus we can write The first entry of the second term on the right-side of the (41) interprets the change of the direction of the normal velocity in the w frame and in conjunction with (52) and (42) can be expressed

where Vw is the skew-symmetric matrix of the velocity vector v W ,that is,

VI"= 0 0 --v

[:

The second entry of the second term on the right side (41) interprets the change of the direction of the specific force in the w frame and using

: I:

The third term on the right side of (41) interprets the change of the direction of the gravity in the b frame with respect to inertial frame. The elements of this term are found as follows. The small-angle rotation vector is defined qb = [$xb $ y b $ z b I T . The gravity vector can be derived from

(55)

or in skew-symmetric matrix form

as a skew-symmetric matrix representing a cross-product with f we find

W , is as used in (48), thus The transformation matrix C the third term of (41) can be written CTG6$b =

FwY=

fzw

AQ + f y w Ap

-fxwAp - f x w Aa

(57)

The third entry of the second term on the right side of (41) interprets the change of the direction of the gravity with respect to the body frame in the w frame. To find the gravity vector in the w frame, we write gw = C,WC;bg' or

The fourth term interprets the change of the magnitude of the angular rate and in conjunction with (48), (55), and defining b i b , = [AW,b A W y b A W Z b I T , the term can be written

The fifth term interprets the change in magnitude of the specific force with components in the w frame
LOVREN & PIEPER A STRAPDOWN INERTIAL NAVIGATION SYSTEM FOR THE F'LAT-EARTH MODEL
219

and can be expressed

where the superscripts indicate the quantity with respect. to which the derivative is taken. The dimensional derivative coefficients found in (70) can be expressed as [12]
Afxb

A f x b + p Af y b 4- a A f z b

(65) where the last approximate equality holds if a , p are small, The differential of the specific force is given by A f b = Afb," + Afb,T Aft"

(66)

where Af b,a is the differential of the specific aerodynamic force and Af b,T is the differential of the specific thrust force. The term Aft" interprets the accelerometer errors ([6, 111) which can be expressed as follows

aff"= Kif; * K o f o * K p f p * Kiih2 + K i o f i f o

+ K z p f i f p + K O P f O f P + KPPfp2
(67) where { K ; , K o , K p } are the mass unbalance drift coefficients, {Kio, Kip,Kop,K p p } are the compliance drift coefficients, and { $ , f o , f p } are the applied specific force along the accelerometer input, output, pendulous axes, respectively. The subscript "0" on the left side of (67) indicates that it is assumed that the gyro output axes are aligned along the body frame axes. The aerodynamic force depends primarily on such variables as follows
=f

(73)

a(v,a,@,&, P,uxb,uyb,uzb,6a,6e,

6y,6th).

(68) In order to accurately model the aircraft motion, it is important to distinguish which direction variables act. Thus it is important to express the dependence in component form of the above variables. It is standard to write this dependence on specific aerodynamic force in the b frame as
f:b
fJb

= f,ab(v,a,6&,6th)
= f,",<p, P , u x b , u z b ,
6a,

6 7 )

(69)

where q = 1 / 2 p 2 is the dynamic pressure, S is the wing reference area, c is the wing mean geometric chord and e is the air density. In (71)-(73), the partial derivatives are expressed by the aerodynamic derivatives, which are dimensionless and listed to the under of the
corresponding dimensional derivative. Substituting

1;b

Izab (U, a ,a , W y b , de).

Perturbing (69) gives the differential form

(44), (53), (54), (57), (60), and (65) in conjunction with (70) into (41),we obtain

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where r = J,Jz - J$, and E, M , and N interpret the roll, pitch, and yaw components of the moment in the body frame, M b = [E M NIT. By perturbing (78) we obtain
AWxb =
Jxz[Jx

- Jr y + JZ]w y b AwXb

(75)

Further expansion of (79) requires the establishment of specific dependencies for the moment components on the relevant variables. Using standard functional dependencies, the components of the moment in the body frame can be written

B.

Linearized Moment Equations

Perturbing (80) and dividing the results by J,, Jy, and Jz, respectively, we find

The rotational motion of the aircraft is described by [I21 JG!b = -(@,J)Ui", + M b (77) where superscript b indicates relative to the body frame. The inertia matrix J is from (2). A corresponding scalar form of (77) for aircraft with x b - Zb plane symmetry can be written 1 dL 1 dL +--Ada+--A6, Jx 86, Jx 86,
JY

AM

LOVREN & PIEPER: A STRAPDOWN INERTIAL NAVIGATION SYSTEM FOR THE FLAT-EARTH MODEL

221

Equation (81) can be written as

Substituting (82) and (76) into (79) yields

+ Lda Ad, + LJr Ad, AM -= M u AU+ M C Y A a + M' A& JY + MWyh AWyb + M a eAd,
=Np Ap
Jz

+ NPAB + NWxh AWxb + NWzb AW,b + N6"Ad, + N d r Ad,

where superscripts indicate the quantity with respect to which derivative is taken. The dimensional derivatives and their corresponding dimensionless aerodynamic derivatives [12]are given as follows

A C U

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developed herein, accurate low altitude flight aircraft models can be realized for control system design purposes. These models can be used in the controller for model-based control via numerous techniques including optimal control, for example, the linear quadratic regulator [14].
REFERENCES Siouris, G. M. (1993) Aerospace Avionics Systems: A Modem Synthesis. New York Academic Press, 1993. Bar-Itzhack, I. Y., and Mallove, E. (1980) Accurate INS transfer alignment using a iiionitor gyro and external navigation measurements. IEEE Pansactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems, AES-16 (Jan. 1980), 53-65. Benson, D. 0. (1975) A comparison of two approaches to pure-inertial and Doppler-inertial error analysis. IEEE Pansactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems, AES-11 (July 1975), 447455. Bose, S . C. (1978) Real-time simulators for augmented inertial navigation system. Proceedings of the IEEE, 66, 8 (Aug. 1978), 1044-1052. Bose, S . C. (1979) Radar updated strapdown inertial midcourse guidance performance analysis for missiles. In Proceedings of the AL4A Guidance and Control Conference, Boulder, CO, 1979, paper 19-1726. Britting, K. R. (1971) Inertial Navigation System AnaEysis. New York Wiley-Interscience, 1971. Hutchinson, C. E., and Nash, R. A. (1971) Comparison of error propagation in local-level and space stable inertial system. IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems, AES-7 (NOV. 1971), 1138-1142. Leondes, C. T (1963) Guidance and Control and Aerospace Vehicles. New York McGraw-Hill, 1963. Nash, R. A., Levine, S . A., and Roy, K. J. (1971) Error analysis of space-stable inertial navigation system. IEEE Pansactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems, AES-7 (July 1971), 617-629. Nelson, R. C. (1989) Flight Stability and Automatic Control. New York McGraw-Hill, 1989. Pitman, G. R. (1962) Inertial Guidance. New York Wiley, 1962. Stevens, B. L., and Lewis, E L. (1992) Aircraft Control and Simulation. New York Wiley-Interscience, 1992. Lovren, N., and Pieper, J. K. (1995) A comparison of the small-angle rotation vector equations in strapdown navigation systems for the flat-Earth and around Earth models. Submitted for publication to ImechE Journal of Aerospace Engineering. Pieper, J. K., Baillie, S., and Goheen, K. R. (1994) Linear quadratic optinial model following control of a helicopter in hover. In Proceedings of the American Control Conference, 1994, 3470-3474.

J , J ~ N ~J ~ ~J~,L*~ J ~ NJ P ~Y ~ ~ U-YP As,

J ~ J , N ~+ VJ J ~ ~ L N~ PY~ ~ V As,. r u - ~ ~

+-I

--]

(88)

In order to solve (74)-(76) and (86)-(88) we need the kinematic relationship [13]

qb = -fi?bqb + A W f b .
IV.
CONCLUSIONS

In this paper is developed a universal (from both strapdown and FEM aspects) model, referred to as a strapdown flat-Earth navigation model or SFEM. From the strapdown aspect, the developed model offers multiple possibilities for error analysis of all known major sources of error including gyro errors, accelerometer errors, gyro alignment errors, and system alignment errors. From, the FEM aspect, for the aerodynamically controlled vehicle, the developed model goes far beyond control system design, towards dynamic analysis for flight modes and assessment of flying qualities. From this point of view, the developed model allows ease of computer simulation with enhanced possibilities for evaluation of the performance of the vehicle. Finally, by using the SFEM

LOVREN & PIEPER A STRAPDOWN INERTIAL NAVIGATION SYSTEM FOR THE FLAT-EARTH MODEL

223

Nedeljko Lovren was born in Yugoslavia, on April 12, 1950. He received the B.S. degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Sarajevo in 1974, the M.S. degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Belgrade in 1982, and the Ph.D. degree in mechanical engineering from the University Level Military Technical Schools, Zagreb, in 1988. He was employed by the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Sarajevo from 1974 to 1992. He is currently a Research Associate at the Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Calgary. His research interest includes the design and analysis inertial navigation systems and control engineering.

Jeff K. Pieper was born in 4964 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He has received the B.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees from Queens University at Kingston in 2987 and 2992 and the M.S. degree from the University of California at Berkeley in 1988, all in mechanical engineering. He has held research and teaching positions at Alcan Canada in Kingston, the National Research Council of Canada in Ottawa, and Carleton University in Ottawa. Since July 1993, he has held the position of Assistant Professor in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Calgary. His research interests lie in applications of robust and optimal control to practical systems, variable structure control, aircraft flight dynamics, and combining control and navigation tasks in aircraft flight. He is Associate Editor of Control and Computers, on the Program Committees for the 1996 PASTED Conference on Application of Control and Robotics, the 1996 Canadian Conference on Electrical and Computing Engineering, and the 1997 IEEE Conference on Control Applications.
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