The principle of precession can be exploited to provide a very accurate measure of angular rotation or rotation rate. Since a spinning wheel, or rotor, will only precess if a torque is applied to it, a rotor suspended in an instrument case by gimbals will maintain its spin axis in a constant direction in space. Changes in the angles of the gimbals will then reflect any changes in orientation of the case with reference to the spin axis direction.
Alternatively, if controlled torques are applied to the rotor to keep its spin axis aligned with a direction defined by the case of the instrument, then the measurement of these torques will provide measurements of the angular velocity of the instrument, and hence of the angular velocity of any body to which the instrument is attached.
Various sensor configurations have been developed over the years based on the principles described above. Attention is focused here on the dual-axis gyroscope, the type of sensor used in Gyrodata survey tools.
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