Improving Instrument Landing System (ILS) Precision using Magneto-Gyroscope-Based Sensor Fusion

The Instrument Landing System (ILS), however, is a well-established but expensive and infrastructure dependent aviation support system that must also battle electromagnetic interference (EMI). This paper presents a portable infrastructure free system using embedded systems and sensor fusion which replicates ILS functionality. An MPU-6050 gyroscope and LIS3MDL magnetometer coupled to an STM32F103 microcontroller allow the system to compute its real-time attitude, as well as deviation from a virtual glide slope centerline and runway centerline. This is aided by a complementary filter which helps to combine sensor data that will reduce gyroscope drift and noise from externals like magnetic interference. The MCU-That-Wals PCB was designed in Altium and KiCad and is small enough to use EMI reducing layout practices, supporting UART, I2C and optional Wi-Fi Telemetry. Firmware includes drivers, fusion logic, and RTC synchronized data logging. Obtaining valid responses confirms successful sensor integration and tracking orientation. Some target applications are UAVs, urban air mobility and remote landings. In the future GNSS, advanced filtering, autopilot integration and real-time dashboards will also be added leading to an enabling technology for cost effective, scalable and fully autonomous landing systems.