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Applied Acoustics launches its new integrated INS USBL system
Applied Acoustics just launched the Easytrack Pyxis, the first-ever USBL to embed a MEMS INS: the OEM version of the Navsight Marine Apogee Solution.
INS – Inertial Navigation System
We offer a wide range of INS suitable whether your applications requirements are about size or performance.
What is an Inertial Navigation System (INS)
An Inertial Navigation System, also called INS, is a navigation device that provides roll, pitch, heading, position, and velocity.
This sensor combines:
- an Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) composed of 3 accelerometers, 3 gyroscopes, and depending on the heading requirement 3 magnetometers. The IMU measures Euler angles in 3 axis thanks to their rotation along with the IMU to obtain pitch, roll, and yaw.
- a microprocessor that runs an enhanced onboard Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) to fuse in real-time inertial data with GNSS and other aiding information (odometer, dvl, etc.) for aided attitude heading.
- an internal data logger if the system data are to be used after the operation (surveying applications for example)
Composition of an Inertial Navigation System
Inertial Navigation Sensors can also integrate an internal or external GNSS receiver for Navigation data and velocity. It can be either a single or dual antenna GNSS, however, two antennas are better for heading in low dynamics applications.
Most of IMUs (and therefore INS) are typically based on the MEMS technology, which combines high performance and ultra-low power in a smaller size.
Interested in the differences between MEMS-based Attitude Heading Reference Systems (AHRS), IMU, and INS? Find out more here.
What is an accelerometer?
An accelerometer measures proper acceleration. This is the acceleration it experiences relative to free-fall, and the acceleration felt by people and objects. Put another way, at any point in space-time the equivalence principle guarantees the existence of a local inertial frame, and an accelerometer measures the acceleration relative to that frame.
Such accelerations are popularly measured in terms of g-force, or more precisely in terms of m/s².
What is a gyroscope?
A Gyroscope is a physical sensor that detects and measures the angular motion of an object relative to an inertial reference frame. It measures the absolute motion of an object without any external infrastructure or reference signal.
What is a magnetometer?
A magnetometer is a measuring sensor used to measure the strength or direction of magnetic fields in order to provide bearing.
Inertial Navigation System Market
The typical applications do not differ much from the AHRS market but cover much more application fields. INS can be used for any type of market, from surveying to unmanned vehicles.
One of these is unmanned aerial vehicles such as UAV navigation, UAV-based Surveying, etc. INS are also often installed on general aviation aircraft.
For the unmanned ground vehicles market, GPS-aided inertial navigation systems (integrating dead reckoning) would be the best fit, especially when the application needs high accuracy.
This also applies to autonomous vehicles such as driverless cars or shuttles, for example.
Inertial Navigation Systems can also be utilized for defense applications such as antenna pointing and SAT OTM but also for marine applications, including submarines, USV, boats, or hydrography.
Inertial sensors can be integrated to any surveying equipment for all types of survey: mobile mapping, indoor mapping, bathymetry, UAV-based surveying, etc.
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