WordNet
n. a system to control a plane or spacecraft; uses inertial forces [syn: inertial guidance system]
Wikipedia
An inertial navigation system (INS) is a navigation aid that uses a computer, motion sensors ( accelerometers) and rotation sensors ( gyroscopes) to continuously calculate via dead reckoning the position, orientation, and velocity (direction and speed of movement) of a moving object without the need for external references. It is used on vehicles such as ships, aircraft, submarines, guided missiles, and spacecraft. Other terms used to refer to inertial navigation systems or closely related devices include inertial guidance system, inertial instrument, inertial measurement units (IMU) and many other variations. Older INS systems generally used an inertial platform as their mounting point to the vehicle, and the terms are sometimes considered synonymous.
Usage examples of "inertial navigation system".
He had been so busy with the computer and inertial Navigation System while they sat in the chocks that he had had no time to look around and become accustomed to this new cockpit.
The chart table was interfaced through the BC-10 into the ship's inertial navigation system, SINS.
Since the tanker had no radar, computer or inertial navigation system, there was nothing for Flap to do but sit.
I'll bet anything it has an inertial navigation system in there and the program froze somehow when it detected we'd reached the Pentagon's coordinates.
And it's got an inertial navigation system in it that may be malfunctioning.
The ship's inertial navigation system showed that the Mood Indigo had not risen a centimeter.
This feature distinguished th KA-6D tanker from the bomber version of the A-6 The tanker was a fuselage designed to carry fuel dol and lacked the two radars, computer, and inertial navigation system of the bomber.
The pilot watched the numbers click off on his inertial navigation system, kept an eye on fuel, and watched forward for any change in the Russian bomber formation.
Back in PacAnt, he had a reputation for possessing his own private inertial navigation system, an internal sense that told him whether he was rising or falling underwater, and how fast.
It carried an inertial navigation system, a thousand pounds of fuel-and a three-thousand-pound high-explosive warhead.
Using its inertial navigation system, accurate to 200 to 300 feet per hour, the B-2A's flight-control system knew what terrain was coming up all along its flight path, and it would choose the lowest possible altitude while still avoiding the terrain.
With the rarrjets at full power the GL-25 missiles quickly accelerated, and using their inertial navigation system and taking position update terrain-comparison snapshots of the terrain below, they sped southward, hugging the earth less than three hundred meters above ground.
Frowning, he used the thumb dial under his left ear to increase the scale until the destination pip showed on the same screen as the point where the helmet's inertial navigation system placed the aircar.
Continuous target information was keyed into the computer along with their current position from the inertial navigation system.
It was difficult holding a steady course and speed with no visibility, but that was the only way to verify the position he got from the tiny inertial navigation system built into the sled.