Azimuth calibration based on equal angle balance correction algorithm for measurement-while-drilling system

The precision of azimuth calculation in measurement-while-drilling systems is heavily reliant on the triaxial magnetometer, necessitating proper calibration to minimize azimuth errors. To address the need for highprecision calibration of systematic errors such as sensor scale factors, bias, and non-orthogonality, a relationship between the error model and the correction matrix is derived and a novel equal angle balance correction method to calibrate azimuth is proposed. Experimental results demonstrate that the mean azimuth error generated by this algorithm is less than 0.00624 degrees, which is at least 28 times lower than that of the ellipsoid fitting correction method. The algorithm effectively eliminates systematic errors and meets the practical engineering requirements for azimuth calibration in measurement-while-drilling systems.