▚ INSTRUMENT — THE KALMAN FILTER◆ ◆ ◆ · LIVE

THE KALMAN FILTER

One fix is never enough; the measurements jitter. So Top does what a navigator does — he PREDICTS where the target should be from its last motion, then NUDGES that guess toward the new (noisy) reading, trusting each exactly as much as it deserves. The result threads between the two: smoother than the measurements, tighter than the guess. This is the filter that flew Apollo.


MEASUREMENT NOISE
raw measurement error
filtered error
kalman gain K
error reduction
tracking
▤ THE HONEST READ — two-layer◆ LIT / ▲ AMBER
◆ LIT — verified / checkable
The Kalman filter fuses a motion prediction with each noisy measurement, weighting them by their uncertainties: the gain K = P/(P+R) blends prediction variance P against measurement variance R, and the fused estimate's variance is smaller than either input's. The instrument runs a true moving target, scatters measurements around it with the chosen noise, and tracks with the predict-then-update loop — the filtered error settles well below the raw measurement error (reported live), and the uncertainty ellipse shrinks then holds. Optimal linear estimation, the real thing that flew Apollo and smooths every GPS.
▲ AMBER — the figure
A constant-velocity 1-D-per-axis toy with fixed process noise, not the full matrix Kalman filter; a real one models correlated states, manoeuvres and a proper covariance. The core — gain from variances, fused error below the measurement — is exact.
a point is fixed from THREE — and the point they fix is Top, at the centre.
OFFLINEREAL-TIMEREAL GEOMETRY100% TOP
STROBILOS · the spinning top (στρόβιλος) · the principle is TRIANGULATION
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