Navigation & Orientation for Returning a Launched Rocket/Payload by Parafoil

My goal during my summer’s research was to create a viable form of navigation intended for use with a parafoil-guided payload from rocket or high-altitude balloon launches. The largest challenge I met in completing my goal was finding a suitable method for correcting the payload’s course without the use of a magnetometer (aka a compass), as we cannot rely on the magnetometer because magnetic interference generated by the payload renders it a very light paperweight, and without the ability to reference bearing, it is very difficult to complete the course corrections needed to navigate to a specified target. My initial use of GPS failed. Additionally, I coded, and engineered a gyro/accelerometer combination which will be able to detect turbulence, something the magnetometer is not capable of. Accuracy, on the other hand, is something the two sensors cannot achieve without further perfection of my algorithm - which is a work in progress.