Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit login

Depends on the quality of the IMU. With a MEMS IMU (what’s in your smart phone and what’s cost effective for most consumer or industrial products today) yes, it’s impossible. Too much drift as a result of process variance in MEMS manufacturing and the “runtime” noise of the IMU itself. With a precision machined IMU, like something you’d find in a submarine or pre-GPS aircraft, totally possible. There’s a YouTube video (would have to dig for the link) showing a military plane in the 1950s flying transcon NYC to LA solely on IMU dead reckoning and arriving with 1/8 mile drift or something ridiculous. The IMU probably weighed a few hundred pounds and cost many hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars, though.



Consider applying for YC's Spring batch! Applications are open till Feb 11.

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: