inertial reference

English

Noun

inertial reference

1. (aviation, military) Any of various devices found in airplanes, missiles, satellites, guns, etc. that sense and calculate data such as linear acceleration and turning rate around each axis and which send that data on to other systems.

   Synonym: (initialism) IR

   • 1974, Jose Behar Cruz, Mac Elwyn Van Valkenburg, Signals in Linear Circuits, page 532:

     Moreover, one terminal of M is connected to the inertial reference (IR).

   • 1995, “The High Altituted Balloon Experiment Demonstration of Acquisition, Tracking, and Pointing Technologies”, in Scientific and Technical Aerospace Reports, page 2841:

     This goal leads to an experiment system design which combines hardward from many technology areas: an optical telescope and IR sensors; and advanced angular intertial reference; a flexible multi-level of actuation digital control system; digital tracking processors which incorporate real-time image analysis and a pulsed, diode-pumped solid state tracking laser.

   • 2013, Federal Register - Volume 78, Issue 220, page 68348:

     To address this potential unsafe condistion and as an interim solution, EASA issued Emergency AD 2009-0012-E […] to require implementation of an aircraft Flight Manual (AFM) operation procdure, to isolate both the Inertial Reference (IR) and ADR in case a faulty IR is detected .

2. (physics) An inertial frame of reference.
   • 2000, Jim Bernard Breckinridge, Peter Jakobsen, UV, Optical, and IR Space Telescopes and Instruments, page 926:

     The SSM inertial reference sensors (star trackers (ST) and/or coarse sun sensors (CSS)) are not suitable as a tracking reference for the FSM for two reasons.

   • 2004, David Titterton, John L. Weston, Strapdown Inertial Navigation Technology, page 483:

     In order to achieve an inertial line-of-sight angle measurement most EO/IR missiles use gyroscopic motion within their seeker head, so that the gyroscopic inertia (i.e. angular momentum) provides an inertial reference that may be translated into stabilisation.

   • 2017, Jacob Schaf, The True Origin of the Gravitational Dynamics, page 71:

     In spite of the planet is moving along a circular path, it is physically stationary and undergoes no acceleration in the local inertial reference.