The H-764 Small Common INS (SCINS) - A New RLG System for the Next Generation Aircraft and Combat Vehicles

Michael J. Hadfield and Alan J. Hasselbring

Abstract:	During the 1990's, the Department of Defense (DOD) will need next generation Inertial Navigation Systems (INSs) to outfit both newly developed aircraft and to upgrade existing aircraft of both the rotary wing and fixed wing variety. Although today's inertial equipment satisfies performance requirements, it does not necessarily satisfy all of the size, weight, and life cycle cost criteria projected as acceptable for future programs. Consequently, the DOD will need a new generation of improved inertial navigation equipment that provides one nautical mile per hour performance but with a smaller, lighter, lower power system. The Honeywell model H-764 SCINS is being developed to satisfy those needs and to meet the requirements of a wide array of applications ranging from fixed wing to rotary wing aircraft, plus combat vehicles and marine vehicles. One of DOD'S increased needs is for small, lightweight, low cost inertial equipment to be used in the combat helicopters with their changing roles. When the helicopter was first introduced into military operations, it was mostly used to shuttle troops and cargo from place to place. It was a workhorse with little need for sophisticated avionics. However, the roles have expanded for the helicopter over the battlefield, and today's aircraft play several different roles: gunship, forward observer, transport vehicle, and air-to-air combatant. In the area of fixed wing aircraft, there are a number of attitude heading reference systems whose technology dates back some 20 to 30 years and which have less than desired characteristics in the areas of reliability, maintainability, and life cycle cost. An inertial system which is capable of meeting those needs with the kind of R and M cost benefits that the RLG technology affords would be of great value. The H-764 SCINS was initially developed with the high accuracy AHRS mission in mind. The H-764 development has taken place over the last several years and was an evolutionary progression from the standard RLG inertial systems developed for the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Army. A building block approach was taken where those functions that were satisfactory in the earlier systems and whose size could be tolerated in at least the prototype versions of the new system were maintained as is. Focus was then placed on those functions such as the inertial sensor assembly, its gyros and electronics, where significant improvement was needed in order to reduce overall size, weight, and power. The objective of this paper is to review the highlights of the earlier developmental efforts and to update them with information obtained during the past year. This will supplement data presented in earlier papers such as the one published at CIGTF 1989 (Reference 1) on the development status and test results. This paper also complements other current papers being presented on laboratory and flight test results of the H-764 SCINS.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 46th Annual Meeting of The Institute of Navigation (1990) June 26 - 28, 1990 Atlantic City, NJ
Pages:	209 - 218
Cite this article:	Hadfield, Michael J., Hasselbring, Alan J., "The H-764 Small Common INS (SCINS) - A New RLG System for the Next Generation Aircraft and Combat Vehicles," Proceedings of the 46th Annual Meeting of The Institute of Navigation (1990), Atlantic City, NJ, June 1990, pp. 209-218.
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