NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: Fluxgate compass
From: Brian Whatcott
Date: 2002 Jan 29, 5:34 PM
From: Brian Whatcott
Date: 2002 Jan 29, 5:34 PM
At 05:16 PM 1/29/02, you wrote: >... What exactly >is a bolt-down sensor? And what errors does it "abolish"? > >As I understand it, a fluxgate compass, like any other compass, needs to >establish the direction of the horizontal component of the Earth's field, >with respect to the direction of the vessel. For this to happen, somehow >the fluxgate compass, just like any other compass, has to be aware of the >direction of the horizontal. ... >George Huxtable. George, the comments I posted were on the basis of examining the constructional details of a fluxgate. In view of your praiseworthy efforts in describing the Lunar, I'll try to return the favor by taking a look at what the commercial fluxgate offerings provide. It may be that for a 2-axis fluxgate, a pendulous mount might be adopted. This would retain the pendulous errors associated with a compass card of the conventional kind. I'll get back to the list, if I find useful engineering input. A three axis fluxgate can be mounted rigidly. This is sometimes called a 'bolt-down' sensor. Brian Whatcott Altus OK Eureka!
