inertial guidance


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Related to inertial guidance: inertial platform, Inertial reference system

inertial guidance

n.
Guidance of an aircraft or spacecraft in which gyroscopic and accelerometer data are used by a computer to maintain a predetermined course. Also called inertial navigation.

inertial guidance

or

inertial navigation

n
(Firearms, Gunnery, Ordnance & Artillery) a method of controlling the flight path of a missile by instruments contained within it. Velocities or distances covered, computed from the acceleration measured by these instruments, are compared with stored data and used to control the speed and direction of the missile. Compare celestial guidance, terrestrial guidance

iner′tial guid′ance


n.
an on-board system that determines an aerospace vehicle's course by means of devices, as a gyroscope and accelerometer, that measure the accelerations of the vehicle in flight. Also called iner′tial naviga′tion.
[1950–55]

inertial guidance

A guidance system designed to project a missile over a predetermined path, wherein the path of the missile is adjusted after launching by devices wholly within the missile and independent of outside information. The system measures and converts accelerations experienced to distance traveled in a certain direction.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Noun1.inertial guidance - a method of controlling the flight of a missile by devices that respond to inertial forces
inertial navigation
steering, guidance, direction - the act of setting and holding a course; "a new council was installed under the direction of the king"
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References in periodicals archive ?
With an effective range of 165 kilometers, the missiles are able to pinpoint targets using global positioning and inertial guidance technology.
S. Korea deploys precision-guided missiles targeting N. Korea
Prithvi, which has features to deceive anti-ballistic missiles, uses an advanced inertial guidance system with manoeuvring capabilities and reaches its target with a few metres of accuracy.
Pakistan, India test nuke-tipped missiles on same day
Nine metres in length and one metre in diameter, the Prithvi-II uses an advanced inertial guidance system with manoeuvring trajectory.
India test fires nuclear-capable ballistic missile
Sandwiched between those chapters are three others, including one by Philippe Jung on development of the VE 111 Topaze, the first French rocket to use inertial guidance, and another by Christopher Mark Hempsell and Alan Bond on the rationale behind Britain's development of the Black Arrow launcher.
History of Rocketry and Astronautics: AAS History Series, Volume 27: IAA History Symposia, Volume 18: Proceedings of the Thirty-Second History Symposium of the International Academy of Astronautics, Melbourne, Australia, 1998
The craft uses inertial guidance and GPS tracking to reunite with the submarine, which retrieves it.
Unmanned mine spotter
The brain trust that brought the world some of the most significant scientific breakthroughs--the first electric self-starter, first moon car and the aircraft inertial guidance system used on the Boeing 747, among other developments--had become a victim of downsizing as the automaker's market share began to tumble and leaders began to chip away at what were considered unneeded costs.
Alan Taub: GM's science guy
The addition of an inertial guidance system coupled with a Global Positioning Satellite system has improved the accuracy of the rocket to significantly less than 5 meters.
Department of Defense news release (April 7, 2006): new Guided MLRS Unitary Rocket is immediate success in Iraq
The GMLRS is an all-weather, precision-guided rocket that uses GPS-aided inertial guidance to increase accuracy.
Lockheed Martin
Blumhagen retired in 1987 after a career in aerospace systems engineering and management; he helped design inertial guidance systems for submarines, missiles and aircraft.
Blumhagen brings big spirit to Vida's little community
An inertial guidance system combines an on-board navigational gyroscope and encoded electronic signals to compare actual and expected positions (see artwork).
Non-wire guidance systems take control of AGVs
Using well-chosen examples--among them, the growth of microwave electronics and the early history of what would become Silicon Valley at Stanford and the creation of Lincoln Laboratory and the development of inertial guidance at Charles Stark Draper's Instrumentation Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)--Leslie details the ways in which new federal support shaped science itself.
The Cold War and American Science: The Military-Industrial-Academic Complex at MIT and Stanford

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