Application, integration and operational aspects of an inertial navigation/survey/pointing system

The Modular Azimuth Position System, a ring-laser-gyro-based, inertial navigation, survey, and pointing system, is designed for military land vehicles. The application, integration, and operational deployment of a MAPS-type inertial system are described. Detailed aspects of operational use for a variety of applications are explored, including positioning of artillery howitzers, missile launchers, and battlefield surveillance vehicles; the pointing of weapons on these vehicles, as well as radar antennas, electrooptical sensors, etc.; land navigation of tracked and wheeled vehicles in a wide variety of field conditions; and high-precision artillery survey work. This discussion includes practical aspects of integration of the dynamic reference unit, vehicle motion sensor, and control and display unit into a wide variety of land vehicles. The future use of ring-laser-gyro inertial systems in land vehicles to provide autonomous performance, operational flexibility and battlefield survivability benefits for military users is explored.<>