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.

中文翻译：

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用于短时惯性导航的市售 IMU 的审查和选择

目的

选择合适的惯性测量单元 (IMU) 是惯性导航系统 (INS) 设计中的关键步骤。然而，惯性传感器制造商不愿意公布他们产品的准确性能参数和价格。本文旨在总结当前 IMU 市场回顾，并指出对短期惯性导航很重要的参数。

设计/方法/方法

市场评估基于制造商在手册、数据表和网站中发布的信息。一些信息，包括价格，也是从传感器分销商那里收集的。整个数据集包括来自32家制造商的150多个传感器的数据，有效期为2020年上半年。

发现

本文回答了以下问题： • 为什么以及在何处使用惯性导航？• IMU 选择时应该强调哪些参数？• IMU 市场上目前有哪些可用的参数？•哪些参数对价格有重大影响？•特定传感器技术的优势是什么？

原创性/价值

本文收集了 IMU 制造商发布的数据，可以快速了解当前市场。基于真实数据，比较了不同的传感器技术。执行的分析提供了 IMU 选择的统计基础。通过理论考虑，得出了传感器参数的重要性，并提出了一种基于参数数量有限的 IMU 选择方法。尽管已经对惯性导航进行了考虑，但对商用传感器进行广泛分析的结果也可能对其他应用有用。