An upgrade for inertial navigation
The three invertial navigation sensors shown here from Vectornav Technologies are what’s called tactical grade devices. That distinguishes them from industrial and automotive-grade versions which have significantly more horizontal position error and accelerometer bias error. Tactical devices are also a step down from the navigation-grade sensors found in ships, submarines, and some spacecraft. A high-end marine-grade inertial navigation system can cost over one million dollars. That makes these sensors — from left to right the VN-310 dual antenna GPS/INS, VN-210 GPS/INS, and the VN-110 IMU/AHRS — relative bargains. (For the acronym-impaired, IMU/AHRS is intertial measurement unit/attitude heading reference system. GPS/INS is GPS-aided inertial navigation system.) The devices incorporate three-axis MEMS gyros having less than a 1°/hr in-run bias stability, giving an attitude accuracy of 1 to 2 mrad. The packaging is an upgrade to previous versions as well: Cases are aluminum and designed to DO-160G standards and are rated IP68.
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