Terrain compensation calculates the difference between the GPS antenna’s location and the actual desired position of the vehicle’s center point on the ground, no matter what slope the vehicle is on.

To make these calculations, sensors such as accelerometers and gyroscopes, can be mounted in different axes to compensate for roll, pitch, and yaw. When mounted on the roll axis the sensors are used to measure the grade of the ground and how fast that grade changes. Using this information, the system can then tell the difference between a bump and a slope and compensate the position of the vehicle accordingly.

When the sensors are mounted on the pitch axis they are used to compensate the vehicles position when driving up or down a slope/hill.