looking for material about INS...

[EmDeer]

Hi guys,

A friend of mine is doing his final exams for his cpl-instructor-rating. He is required to prepare a "lesson" about INS (not how to operate it, but how it functions), and he`s now desperatly seeking stuff/info about the topic. Seems he can´t find much, so he asked me. As I´m of no help either (no INS on my ship) I pass the question on to you: Has anybody any info / book recommendations / internet links etc. regarding INS? Your help would be much appreciated!

TIA,
EmDeer


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You can´t make it foolproof.
Fools are too inventive.

[atomic]

Hi! I'm sure there are tons of www-sites out there, if not, write an e-mail to Honeywell or any of the manufacturers and ask them.
I have a book called "Global Navigation For Pilots" by Dale De Remer and Donald W. McLean, it has some very useful info about all kinds of nav systems, including INS.

[EmDeer]

Thank you very much, Atomic, your advice will be passed on. :-)

[OneMileHigh]

Try phoning one of the ATPL schools, OATS Atlantic FT or Multiflight. I'm sure they'd have plenty of reference material for you as it is part of theoretical knowledge training

[ooizcalling]

EmDeer, I also found it hard to find good info on the basics of the INS. I even sent an e-mail to Honeywell asking if they could recomend some reference material but got no response. If you have some success there will you please post the results.

There was an interesting post started on Christmas eve '98 by a Ppruner called 'wondering' (who was obviously overcome by the navigational achievements of Santa in a 24 hour period). The post was titled 'INS Alignment' and has some good responses on it, although there are probably a few 'red herrings' as well so take care. Use the search function to find it in the Tech Log archives.

The book I have found most usefull is the 'FMC USER'S GUIDE' by Bill Bulfer. Leading Edge Libraries, 2031 River Falls Drive, Kingwood, Texas 77339-3113, USA. Its purpose is primarily how to use the FMS but has a few pages covering the basics prior to concentrating on the usage part.

It covers some History, Strapdown Laser Inertial Navigation/Principles, Inertial Reference Unit/s, Accelerometers Principle of Operation, Laser Principle of Operation, The Dither mechanism, Errors and their corrections (eg Schuler-tuning), etc.

Whether this is enough for your friends research I couldn't say, but it might be a step in the right direction. More info about the book is on http://www.firstnethou.com/fmcman

Good luck!

[EmDeer]

OneMileHigh, Ooizcalling, thank you for your replies! I´m sure it´s a lot of help for my friend. :)

I will try and persuade him to post the results of his search when he is finished with it. It may take a little while, though; thanks in advance for your patience.

Again, thanks a lot for your help!

------------------
You can´t make it foolproof.
Fools are too inventive.