Curvilinear Position

Adhika Lie
April 16, 2010
Earth is not a perfect sphere. It bulges a little bit around the equator and squished on the pole. There
are various model of the surface of the earth with WGS-84 being the most widely use nowadays. WGS74
defines the ellipsoid, the so-called shape of the earth, in terms of the equatorial radius and the flattening
([1]). Other quantity can be derived from these two informations. Navigating across non-spherical earth
requires special treatment on how the position of an object (e.g. airplane, vehicle, human, etc) are described
on the surface of the earth. Readers are pointed to reference text such as [1] and [2] for details. This purpose
of this note is to complete the discussions of the meridian and transverse radius, and geodetic position rate
on [1].

Figure 1: Curvilinear Position

1
Transverse Radius
Let point P on Fig. 1 shows the position of a vehicle on the surface of the earth. [1] derives the definition
of the geodetic latitude1 as
z
tan L = (1)
(1 − e2 ) β
Fig. 1 shows a cross-section of the ellipsoid at one arbitrary longitude, λ. This cross-section is an ellipse and
it should satisfy the equation of an ellipse, namely
β2 z2
2 + 2 =1 (2)
R0 Rp
Knowing the eccentricity of the ellipse, the polar radius, Rp can be written as
p
Rp = R0 (1 − e2 )
Hence
z2
β2 + = R02 (3)
1 − e2
From Fig. 1, it can be seen that
β = N cos L (4)
From Eq. (1),


1 − e2 β
β =Nq
2
z 2 + (1 − e2 ) β 2
q
2
z 2 + (1 − e2 ) β 2 = N 1 − e2


s 2
(1 − e2 ) β

= N 1 − e2


z 1+
z
p
z 1 + cot2 L = N 1 − e2

z csc L = N 1 − e2

z = N 1 − e2 sin L


(5)
Substituting Eqs. (4) and (5) to (3):
z2
N 2 cos2 L + = R02
1 − e2
z2
= R02 − N 2 cos2 L
1 − e2

2
N 2 1 − e2 sin2 L
= R02 − N 2 cos2 L
1 − e2
N 2 1 − e2 sin2 L = R02 − N 2 cos2 L

N 2 cos2 L + sin2 L − e2 sin2 L = R02

 

R0
N=p (6)
1 − e2 sin2 L
1 The term ”latitude” when used without any reference to geodetic or geocentric always refers to geodetic latitude.

2
 This is the transverse radius (denoted as RE in [1]). It is the distance from the ellipsoid to the polar(minor)
axis that pierced through the ellipse perpendicular to the local tangent. It is called the transverse radius
because the rate of change of the longitude depends on this radius.
The meridian radius will become apparent when the latitude rate is derived in the next section. It is
called the meridian radius because the rate of change of the latitude depends on this radius.

Latitude and Longitude Rate

This section derives Eq. (2.72) in [1] geometrically. For analytical derivation, refer to [2] Chapter 4.
The easiest to derive is the longitude rate. If VE denote the eastern velocity of the vehicle, the longitude
rate is given as
VE VE
λ̇ = = (7)
β N cos L
To derive, suppose the vehicle moves in the Northern direction with speed VN . As shown in the figure,
the (geodetic) latitude of point P is L, and ECEF position is (x, y z). After an infinitesimal time dt, the
user is now located at point P 0 with geodetic latitude of L0 and ECEF position (x0 , y 0 z 0 ).
The northern velocity, VN is parallel to the local tangent at P (indicated with red line). Hence, at this
instant
ż = VN cos L (8)
β̇ = −VN sin L (9)
After infinitesimal time dt, the new location of the vehicle, P 0 , in ECEF coordinate can be written as
z 0 = z + VN cos Ldt (10)
0
β = β − VN sin Ldt (11)
The new latitude is given by Eq. (1)
z0
tan L0 =
(1 − e2 )β 0
z + VN cos Ldt
=
(1 − e2 )β − VN sin Ldt
z 1 + VN cos Ldt


z
=  
(1 − e2 )β 2 1 − VN sin
β
Ldt

By binomial expansion, the denominator can be expanded as

   
z VN cos Ldt VN sin Ldt
tan L0 = 1 + 1 +
(1 − e2 )β z β
  
cos L sin L
= tan L 1 + VN dt +
z β
when terms higher than dt are neglected. Similar expansion can also be done for tan L0 by regarding
L0 = L + dL.
tan L0 = tan (L + dL)
= tan L + sec2 LdL

3
Hence
  
cos L sin L
tan L + sec2 LdL = tan L 1 + VN dt +
z β
 
dL cos L sin L
sec2 L = VN tan L +
dt z β

By using Eq. (4) and (5) for β and z

 
dL cos L sin L
= VN sin L cos L +
dt (1 − e2 )N sin L N cos L
 
VN cos L sin L
= sin L cos L +
N (1 − e2 ) sin L cos L
cos L + (1 − e2 ) sin2 L
 2 
VN
= sin L cos L
N (1 − e2 ) sin L cos L
1 − e2 sin2 L
 
VN
= sin L cos L
N (1 − e2 ) sin L cos L
 2 2 
VN 1 − e sin L
=
N 1 − e2

dL VN
= (12)
dt M
where M (denoted as RN in [1]) is the meridian radius and given by

N (1 − e2 )
M= (13)
1 − e2 sin2 L

R0 (1 − e2 )
M=
3/2 (14)
1 − e2 sin2 L

Remarks
VN
It’s sometimes very tempting to write L̇ as . However, it is important to realize that when the vehicle
N
has moved by some infinitesimal distance, the intercept of the transverse meridian with the polar axis has
also moved. Therefore, some corrections need to be make to take into account this as well.

References
[1] Groves, P. Principles of GNSS, Inertial, and Multisensor Integrated Navigation Systems, Artech House,
2008.
[2] Jekeli, C. Inertial Navigation Systems With Geodetic Applications, Walter de Gruyter, 2000.