Newsgroups: comp.robotics
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From: nagle@netcom.com (John Nagle)
Subject: Re: Inertial Navigation Systems?
Message-ID: <nagleDA383v.4I5@netcom.com>
Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 261-4700 guest)
References: <payman.24.2FD8D29E@hookup.net>
Date: Tue, 13 Jun 1995 01:28:42 GMT
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payman@hookup.net (Payman Khalili) writes:
>Does anyone know if one can buy an inertial navigation system (INS) anywhere
>at a reasonable price?

>This device consists of 3 accelerometers and gyroscopes and can give you
>x, y, z position and orientation with respect to a given coordinate system.

     Check out the Systron-Donner MotionPak, which contains three
vibrating-beam type rate gyros and three accelerometers.  Systron-Donner
is at 1-800-227-1625.  It's a few thousand dollars.

     If you don't want to spend that much, consider getting three
rate gyros from Murata (1-800-831-9172, ask for the GyroStar catalog)
and accelerometers from Analog Devices (1-617-329-4700, ask for the
ADXL05 data sheets).  You should be able to get all the necessary
parts for under $1500.

     I suggest reading "Modern Inertial Technology", by Anthony Lawerence
(1992, Springer-Verlag, ISBN 0-387-97868-2) to get an understanding of the
technology and how to use the data from the sensors.  

     You're still going to need some source of positional updates every
minute or so to deal with drift.  

					John Nagle


