Inertial Navigation – Basic Principle

•By measuring acceleration of a moving object we can

• integrate the acceleration to get velocity
• integrate the velocity to get position
• Assuming the initial position and velocity, the position of the
object can be determined at any point of time t.
 Inertial Navigation
Advantages
• Instantaneous output of position and velocity
• Completely self contained
• All weather global operation
• Very accurate azimuth and vertical vector
measurement
• Error characteristics known and can be modeled
• Works well in hybrid mode with other Nav. systems
 Inertial Navigation
Disadvantages
• Position/velocity information degrade with time ( vel.:
1-2NM/hour).
• Equipment is generally expensive
• Initially failure rate of systems was high and maintenance
was also expensive
• Modern systems are more reliable but expensive to
maintain
• Initial alignment is time consuming (12-20 minutes) – OK
for commercial airline operations but not so with military
use (Scramble)
 Inertial Navigation

Stable Platform mechanization: Basis of earlier

inertial navigation system (INS)
Strapdown system: Basis of modern systems

concept is taken to understand

working principle of INS.
 Inertial Navigation – Stable Platform

Three technical issues to be resolved are:

1. Platform is to be mechanically isolated from the
rotation of the aircraft
2. As the aircraft travels over earth the direction of the
gravity vector changes with position
3. In addition, as the earth rotates the direction of the
gravity vector changes with time
Aircraft Axes
 Inertial Navigation – Aircraft Axes
Three axes of the aircraft are:
1. Roll axis which is roughly parallel to the line joining
the nose and the tail - Positive: right wing down
2. Pitch axis which is roughly parallel to the line
joining the wingtips - Positive: nose up
3. Yaw axis is vertical - Positive: nose to the right
Inertial Navigation – Stable Platform
 Inertial Navigation – Platform Isolation
IN platform is isolated from the aircraft rotation by a
gimbal system
• Isolation in the yaw axis: The platform is connected to
the first (inner) gimbal by two pivots along the vertical
(yaw) axis.
• Isolation in the roll axis: The inner gimbal is connected
to the second gimbal by means of two pivots along the
roll axis.
• Isolation in the pitch axis: The second gimbal is
connected to the Inertial Navigation Unit (INU) chassis
by means of two pivots along the pitch axis.
IMU
 Inertial Navigation – Platform Isolation
•Platform is completely isolated from the aircraft
rotations
 Gimbal lock
• Gimbal system with 3 axes of rotation. A
set of three gimbals mounted together to
allow three degrees of freedom: roll, pitch
and yaw. When two gimbals rotate around
the same axis, the system loses one degree
of freedom.
4 Gimbal system
 4th Gimbal
• Adding a Gimbal on fourth rotational axis can
solve the problem of gimbal lock, but it
requires the outermost ring to be actively
driven so that it stays 90 degrees out of
alignment with the innermost axis (the
flywheel shaft).
• Without active driving of the outermost ring,
all four axes can become aligned in a plane as
shown above, again leading to gimbal lock and
inability to roll.
 Inertial Navigation – Alignment

Prior to start of navigation process, INU must be aligned:

(1) Orient the platform perpendicular to the gravity
vector
(2) Determine the direction of True North – alignment
Initialization:
•Initial Position: either as Pilot Input or navigation
computer
•Velocity: normally set zero at start of flight
 Inertial Navigation – Orientation

During alignment of the INU, the

accelerometers send commands to the pivot
motors to orient the platform so that the
outputs of the accelerometers tend to zero.

The earth (and the INU within its

gravitational field) is rotating so that it is
necessary to rotate the platform in order to
keep it level (horizontal).
 Inertial Navigation – platform level

To keep the platform level it is necessary to:

• Sense platform rotation
• Correct the error
Gyroscopes sense platform rotation about the three axes
and send signal to the motor/s for error-correction.
The motor rotates the concerned gimbal to maintain the
correct attitude of the platform.
Once the platform kept leveled determination of direction
of True North relative to the platform heading is done.
 Inertial Navigation
Inertial Navigation– Gyrocompass Alignment
– Gyrocompassing
• This azimuth alignment is done after
horizontal leveling
• This process makes the platform coordinate
approach the navigation coordinate
gradually
• Gyrocompassing principle is commonly
used in inertial navigation system
Inertial Navigation – Gyrocompassing
Inertial Navigation – Gyrocompassing

The platform is being rotated around the X and Y

axes at measured rates:
RX=ΩcosΦcosα ….(1)
RY=ΩcosΦsinα ….(2)
where, Φ (Latitude), α (Platform Heading), Ω
(earth’s rotation rate) is 15.05107 º/hr.
These equations are solved by the IN Computer.
 Inertial Navigation – Navigation
• An aligned INU is ready to operate in Navigation mode
• Gyroscompassing helps to keep the platform
orientation.
• Accelerometers fitted on the platform provide output
signals based on which aircraft’s velocity and position
are computed.
• To get precise values there is a need to compensate for :
o Earth’s rotation
o Travel over the earth’s surface (assumed to be
spherical)
 Inertial Navigation – Issue

• Need for resolving the issue:

 Accelerometer on its own can’t differentiate
between aircraft acceleration and gravity
 Hence, the need to separate the effects of aircraft
acceleration and gravity
 Inertial Navigation

Approaches resorted to resolve the issue are:

Case 1: Stable Platform Mechanization: Keep the
accelerometers horizontal so that they do not
sense the gravity vector.
Case 2: Strapdown Mechanization: Keep track
of the angle between the accelerometer axis
and the gravity vector and subtract out the
gravity component
 Inertial Navigation – Schuler Oscillation
• To compensate for the travel over the surface of the
earth, the platform should be rotated by an angle θ
(d/R) where d is the distance travelled and R is the
radius of the earth.

R d
θ
 Inertial Navigation – Schuler Oscillation

• Assume that the aircraft is stationary. At the end

of the alignment the accelerometers need not be
on a platform perfectly level.
• Based on measured acceleration, the INU
computes velocity and position. This in turn
causes the gyros to rotate the platform.
 Inertial Navigation – Schuler Oscillation
Characteristics of the oscillation:
a=-g sinθ (–gθ) for small angles and θ = s/R , where R
is the radius of earth
Differentiating twice: d 2 1 d 2s a
2
 2

dt R dt R
d 2 g
2
 
dt R

Solving the second order differential equation: g


θ = θ0cos(ωt), where θ0 is the initial tilt angle and R
The period of this oscillation is 84 minutes
Ring Laser Gyroscope (RLG)
Ring Laser Gyroscope (RLG)

• RLG consists of a ring laser having two

counter-propagating modes over the same path
in order to detect rotation.
• It operates on the principle of the Sagnac
effect which shifts the nulls of the internal
standing wave pattern in response to angular
rotation.
• Interference between the counter-propagating
beams, observed externally, reflects shifts in
that standing wave pattern, and thus rotation.
Ring Laser Gyroscope (RLG)

• The first experimental ring laser gyroscope

was demonstrated in the US by Macek and
Davis in 1963.
• Various organizations worldwide subsequently
developed ring-laser technology further.
• Many tens of thousands of RLGs are operating
in inertial navigation systems and have
established high accuracy, with better than
0.01°/hour bias uncertainty, and mean time
between failures in excess of 60,000 hours.
 Ring Laser Gyroscope (RLG)

• A certain rate of rotation induces a small difference

between the time it takes light to traverse the ring in
the two directions according to the Sagnac effect.
• This effect introduces a tiny separation between the
frequencies of the counter-propagating beams and
thus, a beat pattern when the two beams are
interfered outside the ring.
• The net shift of that interference pattern follows the
rotation of the unit in the plane of the ring.
Schematic of Ring Laser Setup

• At the beam sampling

location, a fraction of
each of the counter
propagating beams
exits the laser cavity.
• ‘Sagnac effect’ is
shown in the next
slide.
Inertial Navigation – Ring Laser Gyro: (RLG)
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