Baseline IMU Calibrations

Low-cost IMUs like the one in the DVL are vexing devices that will surely test your patience. We say at Cerulean, “Every IMU is worse than every other IMU.” Note that a good IMU calibration is one of the dominating factors for good system performance.

It is easier and more reliable to do the baseline IMU calibration if you can see the calibration state of the IMU. The calibration state is given in the extended data message. However, to see the calibration state you either need to write some interface software, or, if you are using Ethernet, run the Cerulean Windows DVL application on the same network as the DVL. If you plan to use the DVL as a GPS emulator and do not want to write any software, follow the “blind calibration” procedure below. If you can see the calibration status while calibrating, follow the “status-assisted calibration” procedure below.