Purpose The selection of a suitable inertial measurement unit (IMU) is a critical step in an inertial navigation system (INS) design. Nevertheless, inertial sensors manufacturers are unwilling to publish their products’ accurate performance parameters along with a price. This paper aims to summarise the current IMU market review and point out parameters important for short-term inertial navigation. Design/methodology/approach The market review is based on the information published by manufacturers in brochures, datasheets and websites. Some information, including price, was also collected from sensors distributors. The entire collection of data includes data of over 150 sensors from 32 manufacturers and is valid for the first half of the year 2020. Findings This paper answers the following questions: •Why and where use inertial navigation? •Which parameters should one emphasise during IMU selection?•What is currently available on the IMU market? •Which parameters have a significant influence on price? •What are the advantages of specific sensor technology? Originality/value This paper gathers data published by IMU manufacturers, allowing for a quick overview of the current market. Based on real data, different sensor technologies are compared. The performed analysis presents the statistical basis for the IMU selection. By theoretical considerations a significance of sensor parameters is drawn and an approach to an IMU selection based on limited number of parameters is proposed. Although the considerations have been carried out regarding inertial navigation, the results from an extensive analysis of commercially available sensors may also be useful for other applications.

In the era of rapid advancements in manned and unmanned aviation and robotics, there is a need for high-performance, robust attitude control of highly maneuverable fixed-wing aircraft, both manned and unmanned (UAVs). This paper presents an extension to research on spacecraft attitude control. The article extends existing concepts and applies them to the control problem of aircraft operating in Earth’s atmosphere. First, a general concept of quaternions is presented. Next, the attitude controller’s architecture is discussed. The controller synthesis is described using quaternion algebra. The quaternion-based attitude controller is then compared with a classical Euler-based attitude controller. The methodology for comparison and performance evaluation of both controllers is described. Lastly, the results of the simulations and a comparison of the two controllers are presented and discussed. The presented control scheme outperforms classical methods based on Euler angles, particularly at the aircraft’s high pitch and roll angles.

The selection of an appropriate measurement system for an inertial navigation system requires an analysis of the impact of sensor errors on the position and orientation determination accuracy to ensure that the selected solution is cost-effective and complies with the requirements. In the current literature, this problem is solved based on the navigation duration only by considering the time-dependent errors due to sensor bias and random walk parameters or by conducting numerous simulations. In the former case, oversimplifying the analysis will not allow accurate values to be determined, while the latter method does not provide direct insight into the emerging dependencies. In contrast, this article introduces an analytic approach with a detailed model. This article presents general formulas, also written in detail for the measurement system model adopted and various manoeuvres. Although general equations are complicated, the use of piecewise constant motion variables allow us to discern fragments of equations corresponding to individual error sources. The results confirm the effect the carouseling has on the reduction of navigation errors. The general formulas presented extend the potential to analyse the influence of the entire host vehicle motion, while the detailed formulas make dependencies between motion and navigational errors evident.