Abstract: In order to realize the absolute heading angle acquisition, an absolute heading angle solution method based on simplified solar azimuth is proposed. By inputting the position information of the observation place and the observation time infor-mation, the solar declination angle and the solar time angle are obtained, so as to calculate the solar azimuth angle under the geographic due north coordinate system. Then using the polarization distribution characteristics of the sky, combined with the polarized light navigation and orientation algorithm based on the solar meridian extraction, the absolute heading angle information can be solved to achieve the purpose of navigation. The results of computer simulation and field experiments show that the rms error of solar azimuth is less than 0.01°, the rms error of outdoor static heading angle solving is less than 0.2°, and the rms error of dynamic heading angle solving is 0.53°, which basically meets the requirement of the measurement accuracy for navigation in most of the scenarios.

Key words: bionic navigation, polarization navigation, solar azimuth, absolute heading angle, polarization