Modern Inertial Technology: Navigation, Guidance, and Control (Mechanical Engineering Series) [Hardcover]

Anthony Lawrence (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0387985077 | ISBN-13: 978-0387985077 | Publication Date: December 1998 | Edition: 2nd

A description of the inertial technology used for guidance, control, and navigation, discussing in detail the principles, operation, and design of sensors, gyroscopes, and accelerometers, as well as the advantages and disadvantages of particular systems. An engineer with long practical experience in the field, the author elucidates such recent developments as fibre-optic gyroscopes, solid-state accelerometers, and the global positioning system. This will be of interest to researchers and practising engineers involved in systems engineering, aeronautics, space research, and navigation on both land and sea.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 294 pages
• Publisher: Springer; 2nd edition (December 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0387985077
• ISBN-13: 978-0387985077
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,254,376 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Modern Inertial Technology, April 27, 2001

By 

Frank J. Regan (ellicott city, maryland USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Modern Inertial Technology: Navigation, Guidance, and Control (Instrumentation & systems) (Hardcover)

This book has the potential of being extremely useful; certainly it is an ambitions book. In the discussions of the mechanical gyros the disertation flows fairly well. However, once into the optical gyros, the result is just about worthless. The Sagnac Effect is the basis for all optical gyros such as the ring laser and the fibre optic gyro. The discussion of this effect is just about useless. It is virtually impossible to see how one equation follows from the preceding equation. The fringe shift from two interfering beams which rotate in opposite direction is the basis of all optical gyros, but the discussion in Lawrence's book is little more than hand waving. In other words, if the reader has a background in optical physics, then the discussion makes some sense. However, the book must be judged upon its own merits and here I think it fails miserably. So I would recommend the book for the discussion of mechanical gyros but as an introduction to optical gyros I would recommend that the reader look elsewhere.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good overview, but not detailed, July 27, 2001

By 

Shawn Mulvaney (Ft Worth, Texas United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Modern Inertial Technology: Navigation, Guidance, and Control (Mechanical Engineering Series) (Hardcover)

This is a good overview to hand a beginning avionics or flight controls engineer who needs to get familiar with the very basic principles of inertial nav. Good coverage of various types of instruments, but many of the designs covered are outdated and of little use in modern design work. Given the paucity of works in this field, I welcomed it as an introductory text, but you could not perform any serious trade studies for a real design with only the knowledge in this book. It doesn't cover GPS in any depth, or the important topic of GPS/INS blending. Other topics missing are a good intro to optical gyros (Sagnac effect) and the overall integration of nav systems (steering modes, landing systems, cooperative nav, effects on weapons delivery, and so on). Still, for the money, I would recommend it to a neophyte who has some extra cash...you have to start somewhere!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A modern source in a modest body of literature, February 25, 2001

By 

Claudio Bompadre - See all my reviews

This review is from: Modern Inertial Technology: Navigation, Guidance, and Control (Mechanical Engineering Series) (Hardcover)

The technology in the field is quite advanced, and the research is particulary active and in costant evolution. Producing a comprehensive reference is quite difficult but the author delivers clearly the advantages and disadvantages of each system analyzed in the book. As a guide, the work has neatly reached its goal, since it delivers a clear picture of the current state of art and the trend of each system development. In fact the author is covering every subject quite extensively without the dispersion of innumerable specific technical papers, which are, of course, much more detailed but far from comprehending the scope of the whole field.

The only point is the mathematical level,that is maybe too simple for engineers and scientists, and a little bit complicated for the average pilot, one of the most interested user in the field.