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The Collaborative International Dictionary
Accelerometer

Accelerometer \Ac*cel`er*om"e*ter\, n. [Accelerate + -meter.] An apparatus for measuring the velocity imparted by gunpowder.

Wiktionary
accelerometer

n. 1 An instrument for measuring acceleration. 2 An instrument made for detecting and measuring vibrations.

WordNet
accelerometer

n. an instrument for measuring the acceleration of aircraft or rockets

Wikipedia
Accelerometer

An accelerometer is a device that measures proper acceleration; proper acceleration is not the same as coordinate acceleration (rate of change of velocity). For example, an accelerometer at rest on the surface of the Earth will measure an acceleration due to Earth's gravity, straight upwards (by definition) of g ≈ 9.81 m/s. By contrast, accelerometers in free fall (falling toward the center of the Earth at a rate of about 9.81 m/s) will measure zero.

Accelerometers have multiple applications in industry and science. Highly sensitive accelerometers are components of inertial navigation systems for aircraft and missiles. Accelerometers are used to detect and monitor vibration in rotating machinery. Accelerometers are used in tablet computers and digital cameras so that images on screens are always displayed upright. Accelerometers are used in drones for flight stabilisation. Coordinated accelerometers can be used to measure differences in proper acceleration, particularly gravity, over their separation in space; i.e., gradient of the gravitational field. This gravity gradiometry is useful because absolute gravity is a weak effect and depends on local density of the Earth which is quite variable.

Single- and multi-axis models of accelerometer are available to detect magnitude and direction of the proper acceleration, as a vector quantity, and can be used to sense orientation (because direction of weight changes), coordinate acceleration, vibration, shock, and falling in a resistive medium (a case where the proper acceleration changes, since it starts at zero, then increases). Micromachined accelerometers are increasingly present in portable electronic devices and video game controllers, to detect the position of the device or provide for game input.

Usage examples of "accelerometer".

Glancing at the accelerometer I noticed that the needle was nudging past five and was almost at the figure six.

Other officers were standing by radar and radar altimeter, NST transceiver, drift indicator, accelerometer, and all the rest of it.

The resistance to acceleration must be tremendous, for the accelerometer needle registered zero.

He did not need to glance at the accelerometer mounted among the other tell-tale instruments on the bulkhead of his cabin.

At the edge of the field of vision, the Doppler telemeter and accelerometer spat out their little red numbers so rapidly that it was difficult to read the indicated speed.

Working quickly, he attached the much smaller, but much more efficient crystal-lattice trap and accelerometer to a port upstream from the main detector, where the substation tapped into the Tevatron flow.

His field of vision contracted until it embraced only the clock and the accelerometer, fifteen g, and four hundred and eighty seconds to go.

Lateral and graviton sensor array readouts, accelerometers, optical gyros, inertia!

He did not need to glance at the accelerometer mounted among the other tell-tale instruments on the bulkhead of his cabin.

At the edge of the field of vision, the Doppler telemeter and accelerometer spat out their little red numbers so rapidly that it was difficult to read the indicated speed.

At 2119 Amos checked to see that the forward sight was still bisecting the horizon and pressed the left throttle button for ten seconds after the accelerometer reached oneg.