| This thesis covers the development of a motion tracking instrument geared towards the needs of the geohazard community. Currently, there are no low cost instrument packages well suited for detecting and tracking geophysical flows. Therefore, a lack of scientific data exists surrounding the flow paths and characteristics of flows such as landslides. The goal of this thesis is the creation of an inertial tracking system to be combined with a commercial radio frequency distance measuring system in order to fill the needs of the scientific community. The instrument developed herein is comprised of a three-axis MEMS accelerometer, a two-axis solid state tilt sensor, and two-axis magnetic compass module. To improve upon the accuracy of the inertial tracking system, a dynamic bias correction method has been developed. To evaluate the instrument and determine the effectiveness of the dynamic bias correction method, a five-axis test platform was developed to simulate geophysical flows. Results from the tests show that new drift correction method keeps velocity and displacement from diverging uncontrollably due to accelerometer bias drift. In tests, this correction method reduced the static accelerometer drift by 99%, and the dynamic accelerometer drift by a minimum of 43%. The resulting dynamic errors range in value from 1.07-10.4% of the total distance traveled. |
