Abstract: The performance of terrain-aided navigation (TAN) algorithm is influenced by many factors. Obviously, the relationship based on the signal to noise ratio, which is currently popular, cannot evaluate the effect of the factors on the performance of the TAN algorithms comprehensively and accurately. In this article, the performance of the iterative closest contour point (ICCP) algorithm is studied both in theory and by simulation. First, the shortcomings of the relationship based on SNR and the ICCP algorithm’s sensitivity to the vehicle’s heading are analyzed in theory. Then, the effect of height measurement accuracy, the accuracy of inertial navigation system (INS), the initial INS errors, heading errors and sampling parameters on ICCP performance are studied by simulation. The factors are further classified into the three categories of the uniqueness of the matching map, the height measurement error, and the INS path error in shape. The composite effect of the factors is also analyzed briefly. Finally, the effect of the factors on the accuracy and/or computation burden of the ICCP algorithm is discussed to provide the theoretical basis for its engineering application.

Key words: iterative closest contour point, terrain-aided navigation, inertial navigation systems, matching precision, signal to noise ratio