Application of Roll-Isolated Inertial Measurement Units to the Instrumentation of Spinning Vehicles
- Sandia National Laboratories
Roll-isolated inertial measurement units are developed at Sandia for use in the instrumentation, guidance, and control of rapidly spinning vehicles. Roll-isolation is accomplished by supporting the inertial instrument cluster (gyros and accelerometers) on a single gimbal, the axis of which is parallel to the vehicle's spin axis. A rotary motor on the gimbal is driven by a servo loop to null the roll gyro output, thus inertially stabilizing the gimbal and instrument cluster while the vehicle spins around it. Roll-isolation prevents saturation of the roll gyro by the high vehicle spin rate, and vastly reduces measurement errors arising from gyro scale factor and alignment uncertainties. Nine versions of Sandia-developed roll-isolated inertial measurement units have been flown on a total of 27 flight tests since 1972.
- Research Organization:
- Sandia National Labs., Albuquerque, NM (US); Sandia National Labs., Livermore, CA (US)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- US Department of Energy (US)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC04-94AL85000
- OSTI ID:
- 772048
- Report Number(s):
- SAND2000-3070
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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