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There are non-moving part designs that utilise fibre-optics or laser rings. I've only seen either the physical or laser ring gyros. Not sure about which ones th
by davewasthere 11y ago
There are non-moving part designs that utilise fibre-optics or laser rings. I've only seen either the physical or laser ring gyros. Not sure about which ones they'd use in space though.
- avian 11y agoGrandparent is talking about gyrocompasses, not ordinary gryoscopes though. I haven't heard of a laser-ring gyrocompass. Not sure it if that is even possible.
- rprospero 11y agoThe laser gyroscopes do exist. They use lasers, plus the Sagnac effect, to measure rotations around on axis by interferometry. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sagnac_effect https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sagnac_effect
- darkmighty 11y agoThe gyrocompass orientation should, in principle, be obtainable by properly integrating gyroscope readings (and accelerometer? not sure if required).
- hamiltonkibbe 11y agoYou still need a way of determining the initial position/pose
- darkmighty 11y agoI don't think so. The gyrocompass relies on gyroscopic precession. The precession itself can be obtained by integration, which gives orientation. Of course, the precision of this process may well be very low or unusable.
- hamiltonkibbe 11y agoyou don't need an initial heading measurement but you still need to know where you are
- darkmighty 11y agoIt would suffice to know the radius of the planet and it's rate of rotation.
- hamiltonkibbe 11y agoUsing only a compass and the knowledge that you were somewhere on the planet earth, could you determine the shortest route from your locations to Chicago?
- darkmighty 11y agoAh I thought you were referring to the gyrocompass functionality. Yes, for general navigation you need an initial position to determine your position from inertial measurement alone (as I said, you can determine orientation and latitude, but not longitude).