I am currently researching using magnetometers and radio field strength of 3 points for localisation. Is it possible to use the compass heading of 3 points to work out the angles of the triangle they create?
the diagram can be found at this link (unfortunately not enough rep to post images yet) http://i.stack.imgur.com/2HY7o.jpg
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
In the diagram, the solid black arrows are the bearings I will have with the angle relevant to north. I want to find the angles between each of the blue lines. I will also have a rough estimate of the length of the blue lines. I fear though that as the angles give no information about the other robots, there isn't much hope of finding the triangle's angles.
Best Answer
If you have all three edge lengths of a triangle, all three angles can be found using the Law of Cosines. If the triangle is large enough for the curvature of the Earth to make any difference, there are two versions of a spherical Law of Cosines. Spherical geometry and trigonometry are well documented, as, for many centuries, they have formed the basis for celestial navigation.
EDIT: if I were doing this, with approximate edge lengths, I would check for errors using both sum of the angles being 180 degrees and the Law of Sines.