Diffusion Denoiser-Aided Gyrocompassing

Abstract: An accurate initial heading angle is essential for efficient and safe navigation across diverse domains. Unlike magnetometers, gyroscopes can provide accurate heading reference independent of the magnetic disturbances in a process known as gyrocompassing. Yet, accurate and timely gyrocompassing, using low-cost gyroscopes, remains a significant challenge in scenarios where external navigation aids are unavailable. Such challenges are commonly addressed in real-world applications such as autonomous vehicles, where size, weight, and power limitations restrict sensor quality, and noisy measurements severely degrade gyrocompassing performance. To cope with this challenge, we propose a novel diffusion denoiser-aided gyrocompass approach. It integrates a diffusion-based denoising framework with an enhanced learning-based heading estimation model. The diffusion denoiser processes raw inertial sensor signals before input to the deep learning model, resulting in accurate gyrocompassing. Experiments using both simulated and real sensor data demonstrate that our proposed approach improves gyrocompassing accuracy by 26% compared to model-based gyrocompassing and by 15% compared to other learning-driven approaches. This advancement holds particular significance for ensuring accurate and robust navigation in autonomous platforms that incorporate low-cost gyroscopes within their navigation systems.