Compact wireless GPS/inertial system

This paper reports the state of works in the development of a wireless, low-cost, inertial georeferencial system, designed to evaluate the obtainable performance in aerial photogrammetry direct georeferencing applications. It integrates an advanced tri-axial inertial-sensor with a GPS and a wireless module. A low-cost camera has been also interfaced. The information management is carried out by two 8bit microcontrollers; synchronization, data handling and communication between them and the functional blocks is managed in order to optimize the data transmission throughput. In building the prototype, particular effort has been spent to minimize size and weight and to increase battery autonomy. A PC interface, allowing for parameters control and data logging, completes the system. The reported preliminary testing results point out the system potentialities and let to foresee a wide field of applications.