Feedback Guidance
Navigation architectures use continuous correction signals to maintain the orientation and trajectory of a moving platform. A closed loop ins incorporates feedback loops to continuously drive sensor errors, such as gyro and accelerometer drifts, to zero. This active nulling process improves dynamic response and linearity during high maneuverability scenarios.
Sensor Stabilization
Force rebalanced sensors employ electromagnetic or electrostatic feedback to keep the proof mass centered. By preventing the internal sensing elements from moving significantly, the transducer operates in a highly linear region. This stabilization reduces non-linear distortion and prevents the sensor from saturating during sudden accelerations.
Error Accumulation
Free inertial drift occurs in all navigation systems over extended periods due to uncompensated biases. In this architecture, feedback minimizes the growth of these systematic deviations over time. Auxiliary sensors, including global positioning systems or Doppler velocity logs, frequently provide the external measurements used to generate the correction feedback.
System Calibration
Initial alignment requires the platform to remain stationary to estimate the initial attitude and sensor biases. Fine calibration during operation relies on Kalman filtering algorithms to estimate and correct remaining sensor errors. This continuous estimation process is verified through precision turntable testing before deployment to confirm that the closed loop corrections align with the calculated navigation state.
System engineers evaluate the system performance under simulated flight dynamics to ensure that the sensor rebalancing loops do not experience instability or oscillations when subjected to high vibration levels.
