Measuring Rotational Motion with Linear Accelerometers

Inertial navigation systems usually use gyroscopes to sense angular motion and use accelerometers to sense linear acceleration. It is feasible, however, using only linear accelerometers as sensors, to determine both the angular velocity and the linear acceleration of a vehicle. This paper presents and compares five configurations of linear accelerometers which may be used to determine both the angular motion and the linear motion of a vehicle.