Abstract: The short-time relative height elevation measurement accuracy of the inertial navigation system for micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) is studied. The “inertial height gauge” algorithm is designed. Two verification experiments of desktop height measurement and floor height measurement are carried out. The measurement accuracy of the “inertial height gauge” under different motion conditions and motion duration is analyzed. A method of segmentation measurement is proposed based on the zero-velocity update technique. The experimental results show that the desktop height measurement can achieve millimeter-level accuracy (relative error 0.17%). The accuracy of floor height measurement reaches multi-layer level in the measurement of multiple floors and millimeter level in the measurement of the single floor (relative error 0.22% or 0.06%). The measurement error is positively correlated with the attitude dynamic and motion duration of the carrier. Experiments verify that the inertial navigation system for MEMS is highly feasible for height measurement, and the stable motion conditions and faster measurement time can improve the measurement accuracy.

Key words: short-time relative elevation measurement, inertial navigation system, nertial height gauge, segmentation measurement, attitude dynamic