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OpenINS

License: MIT

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OpenINS is an open-source Inertial Navigation System (INS) project that serves as a complete reference guide for designing and building your own high-performance sensor fusion platform. This repository documents the entire engineering process, from advanced RF PCB design and simulation to firmware development and physical verification.

The design focuses on the implementation of the RF design to add an active antena (via u.FL connector) for the GPS module and a Meandered Inverted-F Antenna (MIFA) for the wireless communications. The firmware on the RP2354B will be implemented using its official SDK and the goal is to perform an Extended Kalman Filter to fuse data from all the sensors to get accurate inertial navigation data. The firmware on the ESP32C6 will be implemented using ESP-IDF and the goal is to communicate wirelessly the fused data.

🌟 Key Features

-Hardware:

  • Custom 4-layer PCB designed in KiCAD.
  • Impedance-controlled trace for the GPS active antenna.
  • Integrated Bias-T circuit to power the external LNA of the GPS antenna.
  • On-board impedance-matched trace antenna for the ESP32's Wi-Fi/Bluetooth.
  • Careful component placement and layout for optimal signal integrity.
  • Contains a NEO M9N GPS module.
  • Contains a xx Inertial Measurement Unit.
  • Contains a xx Barometer.
  • Contains a RP2354B for Sensor Fusion algorithms
  • Contains a ESP32C6 for Wireless Communication

-Firmware:

  • Powered by an ESP32-S3/C6 for high performance and wireless connectivity.
  • Advanced sensor fusion using an Extended Kalman Filter (EKF).
  • Modular software architecture using the plànols repository as a git submodule for core drivers and math libraries.
  • Wireless data streaming of fused orientation and position data.

-Complete Workflow:

  • RF sections (antennas, filters) simulated using OpenEMS and Octave.
  • Real-world performance validated with a Vector Network Analyzer (VNA) and spectrum analyzer.

⚙️ System Block Diagram

🚀 Getting Started

Follow these steps to replicate the project.

Prerequisites

-Software: KiCAD (v9.0+), Visual Studio Code IDE with Raspberry Pi Pico and ESP-IDF extensions, OpenEMS, Octave, Python.

-Hardware: See the Bill of Materials (BOM) in the hardware/manufacturing/ folder.

Hardware Assembly

  1. Generate the Gerbers from the KiCAD project located in hardware/kicad/.
  2. Order the PCB from your preferred manufacturer.
  3. Source the components listed in the BOM.
  4. Solder the components to the PCB. Pay close attention to the orientation of the ICs.

🔬 Simulation and Verification

This project emphasizes the importance of validating design choices.

  • The simulations/ folder contains the scripts and files used to model the RF performance before manufacturing.
  • The physical_verification/ folder contains exported data from lab equipment, showing how the real-world hardware compares to the simulations.

🤝 Contributing

Contributions are welcome! If you have an idea for an improvement or find a bug, please open an issue or submit a pull request. See the CONTRIBUTING and CODE OF CONDUCT files

📜 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.