New technology alternatives to the existing aircraft magnetic azimuth detector

The existing magnetic azimuth detectors (MAD) in the Air Force inventory were designed in the 1940´s and 1950´s and by the 1990´s standards have low reliability. These devices are susceptible to damage due to day to day wear, turbulence, onboard gun fire, and hard landings. There is thus a need to seek out alternative approaches. This paper outlines a study performed by Smiths Industries on the compass/attitude heading reference (C/AHRS) program which investigated three `alternative MAD approaches´ that are currently in development. The paper describes the three different sensing approaches followed by discussions on what electrical, mechanical, and environmental interface efforts must be performed in order to interface them with the compass/attitude heading reference system in the future