B-58s also make excellent alarm clocks if, as I did in the mid-60's, you
live under the flight path of Kelly AFB. :-)
Chuck Norcutt
Paul Laughlin wrote:
> The inertial guidance systems do not guess at all. Even the system in the
> B-58, which, incidentally was analog, used an astrotracker to determine
> position on earth. I am sure that, today, they use GPS. There was also
> input from a fluxgate compass so that the platform had a north reference.
> The gyro-stabilized table is erected to be gravitationally level and
> pointing to North. At this point there is zero static (gravitational)
> acceleration. Now the gyroscopes maintain the platform at this position.
> The aircraft rotates about it. Any movement of the aircraft then effects
> the accelerometers. There are correction factors that are necessary such as
> coriolis effect and others, which are taken into consideration, of course.
> You can get aircraft pitch, roll and azimuth position by checking the
> aircraft attitude in reference to that stable platform.
> The B-58 system was pretty much a pioneer in Inertial Guidance for aircraft.
> My primary responsibility was the in shop maintenance of the
> gyro-stabilization and astrotracker systems. Troubleshooting and repair.
> That was in the B-58 Test Force and later in the 43rd Bomb Wing. As a
> completely useless piece of info, the B-58 was a maintenance man's
> nightmare. Required something like 1000 hours of maintenance to get 1 hour
> of flying time. It did set several speed records, though. Won the Bleriot
> Trophy, and then while flying to the Paris Air Show to receive it, set a
> speed record from New York to Paris. Still stands, as far as I know.
> The Inertial Guidance systems are very much more sophisticated these days,
> but the principles are pretty much the same.
> Paul in Portland OR
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Chris Barker" <ftog@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> To: "Olympus Camera Discussion" <olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Monday, March 09, 2009 11:40 PM
> Subject: Re: [OM] Mammoth E-30 Product Review - Zone-10 Website
>
>
>> That sounds reasonable, thanks, Mark. All IN systems have to guess at
>> their position on the earth before being aligned. They need this to
>> know what the angular acceleration should be so as to erect the
>> platform level. Presumably the local gravitational force is part of
>> the erection and alighnment process.
>>
--
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