PERFORMANCE OF A RING LASER STRAPDOWN MARINE GYROCOMPASS

This paper describes an accuracy performance analysis of a ring laser (RL) strapdown marine gyrocompass. Theoretically derived relationships and covariance analysis results are presented to indicate the effect of ring laser errors on heading accuracy and on settling time. Test results obtained with a pre-production model of the RL strapdown gyrocompass are also shown, and they illustrate the capability of this system to meet U.S. Navy Type I at-sea performance requirements.