AER 615 Lecture 19: AER615NotesSensors
15 Oct 2017
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Document Summary
For manual or automatic flight, one requires continuous updating of the aircraft"s attitude and direction. Let"s look at some pertinent sensing devices that help to transfer to the pilot (or computer-based afcs) the information noted above. The original electromechanical gyroscopes were designed to exploit the well-known characteristics of gyroscopic motion. A heavy rotor, spinning at a high rate and mounted in a set of rings (gimbals), allowed for one or two degrees of freedom in terms of angular displacement. The primary characteristics of interest with respect to gyroscopic motion are rigidity in space and precession. Spatial rigidity refers to the reluctance of a spinning gyro rotor to change the axis of its rotation (i. e. , precess), unless acted upon by an external force or torque. Real (as opposed to apparent) precession refers to angular displacement of the gyro spin axis from its original alignment. This movement is proportional to the precessing force and the gyro"s rigidity.
