Systems analytical description of analog and pulsed feedback accelerometers for inertial navigation

Accelerometers used in inertial navigation must fulfill high precision requirements in a measuring range of .0004 g to 50 g. Accelerometers applied in this field operate therefore according to the force balancing principle which is realized by means of an electronic feedback circuit. In the early days of inertial navigation only analog feedback circuits were used. When introducing the digital computing technique also pulsed feedback circuits of various modifications were created. Having an appropriate structure and design, the accelerometer can be operated by means of an analog as well as a pulsed feedback circuit. For both types of feedback, the static and dynamic behavior of the measuring instrument is described.