Inertial Technology for the Future

Abstract

There are many different approaches to inertial instruments-to be useful a concept has to be sound, but success is the fruition of solving myriads of design details. The concept of the electrostatically suspended gyro has been proven to be sound, but the Rockwell and Honeywell designs are quite different. The floated instrument concept is sound, but design details of the North American (now Rockwell) inertial navigator on the Nautilus arctic patrol were quite different from those of the M. I. T. Instrumentation Laboratory (now Draper Laboratory). These are but examples illustrating the many useful inertial instrument technologies in being and point up that not only do different concepts have a place in time and application, but different designs of the same concept often fulfill a need. The future will be no different. A number of leading experts provide short surveys of the principal inertial technologies of today and what is to be expected in the next 25 years. Not all predictions are congruent-like stock market predictions, you are left to decide for yourself.