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A System of Automatic Navigation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 January 2010

C. Britnell
Affiliation:
(The Sperry Gyroscope Company)

Extract

A computer known as the Radio Track Guide, of which both air and ground trials have been held, is described. As a system it can provide accurate automatic guidance for all anticipated operational conditions in a manner which is of value for both navigational and movement-control purposes. Mr. Britnell's paper was presented at the Paris convention on automatic navigation.

The criterion for assessing the efficiency of a navigational aid must include a reference to the ease and precision with which it enables a vehicle to maintain a specified track. In aircraft navigation the most accurate tracks are, of necessity, those made in the vicinity of the runway during the landing and take-off phases. At such times the errors must be limited to a few feet and such small values are a result of the pilot using an ideal reference frame for lateral guidance purposes. This is centred upon the runway and within it he is able to detect, with a high degree of accuracy, the two quantities necessary for precise track keeping. These two quantities are the displacement and rate of displacement from the required track.

Type
The Place of Automation in Navigational Methods—II
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal Institute of Navigation 1960

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References

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