The State of Strapdown Inertial Guidance and Navigation

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Abstract
The prospect of simplifying inertial navigation systems by strapping the sensors directly to the vehicle, as commonly done in attitude control systems, has continued to intrigue investigators. Interest has persisted through the many years that have seen the gimballed, inertially stabilized platform reach maturity in military applications, in space vehicles, and recently in commercial aircraft. Motivating the interest in strapdown technology has been the belief that lower weight, lower cost and higher reliability can result if electromechanical stabilization is replaced by a computational approach which exploits advances in computer and microelectronic technology. This paper reviews the concepts and problems underlying the strapdown approach, and covers the theoretical and hardware developments that have taken place in recent years in computers, sensors, and systems. It is noted that the initial success has been achieved in spacecraft applications where the weight saving has been important and accuracy needs have been modest. Success has led to plans for installation of systems as second generation equipment in launch vehicles where the environment is more demanding. Requirements for extending the applications are presented and Raytheon Company programs in strapdown technology that involve or are leading to road and flight test demonstrations are briefly described.

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