INSTRUMENTATION

5 Inertial Navigation Systems (INS)

5.1 Principles and Practical Application
5.1.1 Introduction
Purpose and Application

Components

The purpose of an aircraft inertial

navigation system (INS) is to provide
accurate worldwide navigation information
independent of external aids; the system
neither transmits nor receives any signals.
After being supplied with latitude and
longitude of the ramp position prior to
departure, INS is capable of continuously
updating extremely accurate displays
of: position, ground speed, attitude and
heading. In addition, it may provide
guidance or steering information for the
autopilot and flight instruments.

The four basic components of an INS unit

are (see fig. IN 5.1):
A stable platform oriented to maintain the
accelerometers horizontal to the Earth and
to provide azimuth orientation
The accelerometers arranged on the stable
platform to supply specific components of
acceleration
The integrators to receive the output from
the accelerometers and to furnish velocity
and distance
A computer to receive the signals from
the integrators and to change to distance
travelled into latitude and longitude

Start pos. Lat & long

1 st
Gyroscopes

Integrators

2 nd

Accelerometer
Acceleration

Velocity

Distance
Computer

Gimbal
System

Correction signal to level platform

Stabilised platform

Lat & long

Fig. IN 5.1 Components of simple INS

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An additional component, not directly

part of the INS system but complimentary
to it and necessary for all aircraft, is the
navigation computer and display unit.
Most aircraft now fly using triplicate
components for safety and reliability. A
common aircraft fit would include:
3 INS systems
3 INS control units, and
A navigation computer and display.

5.1.2 Accelerometers
Introduction
The basic principles upon which the
accelerometers operate are related to
Newtons laws regarding motion.
They are:
A body will continue in a state of rest
or maintain a straight line of movement
unless compelled to change that state by a
force acting upon it
The acceleration of a body is directly
proportional to the applied force causing
the change, and takes place in the
direction of the applied force
To every force, there is an equal and
opposite reaction
An accelerometer is an essential part of all
inertial systems. There are many varieties
of this instrument, but they all work on
the same basic principle. They can detect
accelerations to a thousandth of a G-force,
far more sensitive than the human body can
detect. In its simplest form, an accelerometer
consists of a small weight suspended
between two springs, with an electrical pickoff which converts the compression of one
5-2

of the supporting springs into an output

signal (fig IN. 5.2).
Aircraft stopped
+
-2 -1 1 2

Aircraft
accelerating
force (thrust)
Aircraft
maintaining
speed
Decelerating
force
(braking)
Gravity

+
-2 -1 1 2

+
-2 -1 1 2

-4-3-2-1 1

-2 -1

1 2

No
acceleration
signal
Positive
acceleration
signal
No
acceleration
signal
Negative
acceleration
signal

False
acceleration
signal

Fig. IN 5.2 Simple spring accelerometer

The accelerometer cannot calculate

velocity or distance itself, it quite simply
registers the spring displacement, which is
directly proportional to the accelerating or
decelerating forces. Velocity and distance are
computed from sensed acceleration by the
application of basic mathematical formulas
of integration.
In an inertial navigation system, two or
three accelerometers are used. One will
measure the aircrafts accelerations in the
North-South directions, another will measure
the aircrafts accelerations in the East-West
directions. The third accelerometer, if fitted,
will measure vertical displacement, but is
not part of the system described below. A
North/South and East/West - orientation

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Pendulum Accelerometer
Accelerometers can, as mentioned earlier,
be of various types, but the most common
is the pendulum linked to a force feed-back
system.

Movement of the pendulum will take the

I-bar out of the horizontal which disturbs
the relative position of the E and I bar and
thus generates an error signal. This signal
is fed to the INS computer which will feed
a current to the feed-back coils to pull the
pendulum back to the vertical and regain
the relative position between the E and I
bar. This is known as a Force Re-balance
System or a Force feedback system.

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of the accelerometers is most common,

but note that for polar navigation, another
reference might be used.

Fig. IN 5.3 shows that the pivot arrangement

allows movement in one axis only i.e. north/

south or East/West but not both. It also
shows that the greater the acceleration along
the swing axis, the more the pendulum will
lag behind the pivot and therefore swing
from the vertical. This movement is then
sensed as a disturbance to the equilibrium
of the E and I bar. The E bar is fixed to the
stable platform with the legs pointing up,
and the I-bar is fixed to the bottom of the
pendulum, horizontally above it.

The actual strength of the feedback current

required to pull the pendulum back to
the vertical is directly proportional to the
acceleration and is used by the computer
to measure the acceleration along its
swing axis.
The systems extreme sensitivity enables
it to detect even the smallest change of
acceleration. To maintain the required
accuracy, alignment is critical to the

Pivot

Acceleration to
the right

From computer to
force feed-back coil

From computer to
force feed-back coil
Force feed-back to
the right cancels
pendulum swing

Lag swing pendulum

to the left

I bar
E bar

Pick-off to computer

Pick-off to computer

Fig. IN 5.3 Pendulum accelerometer

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sensed direction of the acceleration. If the

platform is misaligned and accelerated in a
North/South direction, the north sensitive
accelerometer will not detect the full
acceleration and the east accelerometer will
detect an unwanted component.

5.1.3 Integrators

North
acc

AMP

North
velocity

1st integrator

Force

Integration is a function that can be viewed

as a multiplication by time. For example, a
vehicle accelerating at three ft per second
squared would be travelling at a velocity
of 30 ft per second after 10 seconds have
passed. Note that acceleration was simply
multiplied by time to get a velocity.
Fig. IN 5.4 1st integrator

The microprocessor also integrates the

calculated velocity to determine position.
For example, a vehicle travelling at a velocity
of 30 ft per second for 10 seconds will have
changed position by 300 ft. Velocity was
simply multiplied by time to determine
the position.
All an integrator does is to produce an
output which is the mathematical integral of
the input, or in other words, the input signal
multiplied by the time it was present.
There are, as mentioned above, two stages
of integration: first and second stage. There
are 4 integrators in all per system: 2 to the
North/South channel and 2 to the East/
West channel. The first stage integrator
takes an input voltage proportional to
acceleration (i.e. ft per second squared)
from an accelerometer and integrates it, thus
producing an output voltage proportional to
velocity, North/South or East/West (ft per
second). In fig. IN 5.4 the velocity is North.
5-4

The signal is then sent through a second

integrator and again it is a time multiplier
(fig. IN 5.5). With an output of ft per
second, which is multiplied by time, the
result is a distance in ft or miles, in this
example 221 miles.
The computer associated with the Inertial
System knows the latitude and the longitude
of the takeoff position and calculates that
the aircraft has travelled so far in a
North South direction and so far in an
East West direction. It now becomes
simple for a digital computer to continuously
compute the new present position of the
aircraft.
The integration process is completed several
hundred times a second, and will thus give
a nearly continuous information on distance
travelled in the direction the particular
accelerometer is aligned with.

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North
velocity

North
distance
2 2 1

2nd integrator
Force

Fig. IN 5.5 2nd integrator

5.1.4 The Platform

The platform provides the mounting for the
accelerometers and gyroscopes. In order that
accelerometers can measure accelerations
along two independent axes, namely North/
South and East/West, the platform must be
kept level and aligned by a gimbal system.
The function of the platform is to maintain
the accelerometers level and aligned to the
Earths North/South and East/West axes.

5.1.5 Gimbal System

A three gimbal system is normally used,
each gimbal having a pick-off and a gimbal
torquer. Pick-offs are used to provide
pitch, roll, and heading information to the
main flight instruments. Gimbal torquers
are follow-up motors used to drive the
gimbal to maintain the platform level and

aligned to north in the presence of aircraft

manoeuvres:
The pitch torquer is fixed to the pitch
gimbal and the roll gimbal
The roll torquer is fixed to the pitch
gimbal and the aircraft
The azimuth torquer is fixed to the pitch
gimbal and the platform.
The torque motors signalled by the levelling
and azimuth gyroscopes automatically
control the gimbals. If the aircraft rolls,
the roll is instantly passed to the platform
through the gimbals. The levelling gyros
will be caused to precess, producing output
voltages which are passed to the roll
torquer motor which drives the roll gimbal,
returning the platform to its start position
in the horizontal. In practice the platform

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remains level, driven by the gimbals and

torquer motors. The angle the roll gimbal
has been moved to keep the platform level
is termed roll angle. This is sensed by
the pick-off and is passed to the relevant
instrument displaying roll angle.

5.1.6 Gyroscopes
There are two levelling gyroscopes: one set
up sensitive to rotations about the North/
South axis; the other about the East/West
axis. The third gyro, or azimuth gyro, is
sensitive to rotations around the vertical
axis. All platform gyros are rate integrating
gyros and if turned around their sensitive
axes will precess producing an output
voltage from electrical pick-offs.
The levelling gyros are usually vertical gyros
while the azimuth gyro is a horizontal gyro.
The rate integrating gyroscope is a gyro
mounted inside two concentric cans.
The inner can forms a gimbal by rotating
within an outer can. The outer can is fixed
to the INS platform. It can be seen from the
fig. IN 5.6 that the gyros sensitive axis
is at right angles to both the output and
spin axis.
The outer can is filled with a viscous fluid,
which produces a resistance, or damping
to stop the inner can from toppling. If the
gyro is rotated about its sensitive axis Z a
torque/force will be applied to the spin axis
producing a precession about its output axis
Y. The rotation about Y will continue until
the viscous restraint of the oil equals the
precessional torque.

5-6

Sensitive (input) axis Output axis

X
Z

Y1
Spin

Z
Applied turn

Fig. IN 5.6 Levelling gyroscope

The gimbal or gyro precession around

the output axis is thus proportional to the
rate of rotation producing it. The pickoff measures this precession and passes a
voltage proportional to the precession to
the relevant gimbal torquer, which drives
the gimbals to keep the platform level and
aligned. In addition each gyroscope has a
gyro torquer which is used to apply forces to
the output axis to correct for apparent drift
and topple.

INS - Principle of Operation

Accelerometers on the INS platform measure
vehicle accelerations in the North/South
and East/West planes. The acceleration
information are then integrated twice in
a computer, and compared with a timing
signal to produce distance gone in two
channels - North/South and East/West.
The platform is kept level and aligned to
true north by a gimbal system stabilised by
gyroscopes, and a platform control unit. The
relative position of the aircraft axes and the
INS platform axes provides information on
aircraft pitch, roll and heading.

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Acceleration must be measured along two

axes, usually orthogonal, if vehicle velocity
and displacement are to be defined in a
given plane. Since most accelerometers are
designed to measure acceleration along
one axis only, two accelerometers are
required for inertial navigation in a two
dimensional plane. In aircraft systems the
accelerometers are usually mounted with
their input axes aligned with north and east,
Without correction

Oriented to original vertical

With correction

Oriented to local vertical

Fig. IN 5.7 Local vertical

and this alignment must be maintained if

the correct accelerations are to be measured.
Moreover, the sensitive axes must be
kept perpendicular to the gravity vertical,
otherwise, the accelerometers sense part
of the gravity acceleration (fig. IN 5.7). The
reference frame defined by these directions,
i.e. local North, local East, and local Vertical,
is called the Local Vertical Reference
Frame. Other reference frames can be used,
but the local vertical is the fundamental
mechanisation used.

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Measurement Axes

Gyro Stabilisation
Once the accelerometers have been
aligned in the chosen reference frame,
they must be capable of maintaining that
orientation during aircraft manoeuvres. The
accelerometers are therefore mounted on a
platform, which is suspended in a gimbal
system that isolates the accelerometers from
aircraft manoeuvres see fig. IN 5.8).
However, this platform is not inherently
stable, and any tendency for the platform
to rotate with the aircraft must be detected
and opposed. Gyros are therefore mounted
on the platform to detect platform rotation
and control platform attitude. Three single
degree of freedom gyros are normally used;
one gyro detects rotation about the North
axis, another rotation about East, and the
third rotation about the vertical.
The platform rotations detected by the
gyros are used to generate error signals,
proportional to change in platform attitude,
which are used to motor the platform back
to its correct orientation.

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Platform Control
Azimuth
gyro

North
gyro

East
gyro

East
accelerometer

N
E

The platform control unit computes

and applies the gyro and accelerometer
correction terms from calculated values of
ground speed and latitude and stored values
of Earth radius and Earth rotation rate,
see fig. IN 5.9.

North
accelerometer

Output
The outputs of the INS system are distance
gone North/South (Change in latitude)
& East/West (Change in longitude from
departure formula), pitch, roll, and true
heading. The INS and navigation computer
combine to give outputs of distance gone,
groundspeed, drift, and track.

5.1.7 Platform Control

Fig. IN 5.8 Simplified INS platform

Effect of Earth Rotation and Vehicle

Movement
An INS operating in the local vertical
reference frame must maintain its alignment
relative to Earth directions. The gyros
used to stabilise the platform are rigid in
space and must therefore be corrected
for Earth rate and transport wander to
make them Earth stable. Additionally,
the accelerometers must be corrected for
the effects of Coriolis and the centripetal
acceleration caused by rotating the platform
to maintain alignment with the local vertical
reference frame.

5-8

The platform must remain level and aligned

to true North in the presence of Earth
rotation and aircraft movement. These
movements must be corrected in order
that the accelerometers will only measure
accelerations N/S and E/W, and the
following terms for drift and topple must be
made (see table IN 5.1).
It is the function of the platform control
to calculate these corrections and pass
them as correcting currents to the relevant
gyro torquers. The torquers produce forces
on the gyro spin axes causing correcting
precessions. Correction voltages are
also passed by the platform control to
correct or bias the output voltages of the
accelerometers to correct for Coriolis and
centripetal acceleration errors.

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North
accelerometer

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Azimuth
gyro

East
gyro

North
gyro

E
East
accelerometer

(East acceleration)

(North acceleration)

Platform

Gyro corrections

Gyro
correction

Gyro
corrections

Accelerometer corrections
Platform control
1st integrator
Velocity N/S

1st integrator
V

2nd integrator
Ch Lat
Latitude

Velocity E/W
2nd integrator

Radius of
the Earth (R)

Earth
rate

Distance E/W
(departure)
Secant gear
Ch Long
Longitude

Fig. IN 5.9 Simple inertial navigation system

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Component

Correction for

Correction value

E/W levelling gyro

Apparent topple around E/W axis

_ V
R

N/S levelling gyro

Apparent topple around N/S axis

cos + U
R

Azimuth gyro

Apparent drift in azimuth

sin + U tan
R

E/W accelerometer

Coriolis and centripetal accelerations

2V sin + UV tan
R

N/S accelerometer

Coriolis and centripetal accelerations

2V sin + U2 tan
R

Table IN 5.1

Platform Operation
A typical platform mounting in the aircraft
is shown in fig. IN 5.10. Gyroscopes and
accelerometers are corrected for drift and
topple by the platform control unit, but are
not shown.
If the aircraft is flying north as shown, any
pitch manoeuvre will cause the gimbals to
pitch the platform. The pitch rotation will
be sensed by the East/West levelling gyro.
It will precess and pass an output signal to
the pitch torque motor to level the platform.
Flying north, the East/West gyro signals the
pitch torque motor.
Heading

North/south

East/west

Consider flying east as shown in fig. IN 5.11.

Pitch manoeuvres this time will be sensed
by the N/S levelling gyro. To correct for
pitch manoeuvres when flying east the
North/South gyro signals the pitch torquer
motor. In both cases the pitch torque motor
drives the platform in the presence of pitch
changes to re-level the platform, but is
signalled by either the North/South or East/
West levelling gyro, see table IN 5.2.

Pitch and Roll Correction

Pitch and roll aircraft manoeuvres passed
to the platform are corrected by the pitch
and roll gimbal torque motors. However,
the detection of pitch and roll manoeuvres

Manoeuvre

Sensing gyro

Correcting gyro

Yaw

Azimuth

Azimuth

Pitch

East

Pitch

Roll

North

Roll

Yaw

Azimuth

Azimuth

Pitch

North

Pitch

Roll

East

Roll

Table IN 5.2

5-10

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Azimuth gyro

Platform

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North gyro

East gyro

Roll motor

N-S accelerometer

E-W accelerometer

Aircraft
heading
(north)

Roll axis

Pitch axis
Azimuth motor

Pitch motor

Aircraft frame

Vertical axis

Fig. IN 5.10 Platform arrangement-aircraft heading north

Pitch axis

Roll axis

E-W accelerometer
E

Pitch motor

N-S accelerometer
Roll motor

Aircraft heading
(east)
Azimuth motor

Vertical axis

Aircraft frame

Fig. IN 5.11 Platform arrangement - aircraft heading east

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