The Delco Carousel — proper name Carousel IV — was an
inertial navigation system
An inertial navigation system (INS) is a navigation device that uses motion sensors (accelerometers), rotation sensors ( gyroscopes) and a computer to continuously calculate by dead reckoning the position, the orientation, and the velocity (dire ...
(INS) for aircraft developed by
Delco Electronics
Delco Electronics Corporation was the automotive electronics design and manufacturing subsidiary of General Motors based in Kokomo, Indiana, that manufactured ''Delco'' Automobile radios and other electric products found in GM cars. In 1972, Gene ...
. Before the advent of sophisticated flight management systems, Carousel IV allowed pilots to automate navigation of an aircraft along a series of waypoints that they entered via a control console in the cockpit.
Carousel IV consisted of an inertial measurement unit (IMU) as its position reference, a digital computer to compute the navigation solution, and a control panel mounted in an aircraft's cockpit. It was used for long over water and over the North Pole aircraft navigation. Many aircraft were equipped with dual or triple Carousels for redundancy.
Operation was relatively simple: a pilot or flight engineer would enter the individual waypoints by their latitude and longitude points and then the pilot or engineer would enter the starting location in latitude and longitude. The system used spinning mass gyroscopes and proof-mass accelerometers to measure movement from the start point. An involved calculation followed by sampling those sensors to determine a current position relative to the surface of the Earth.
The Carousel IV system derives its name from the fact that the inertial reference platform was rotated 180° every 60 seconds as a technique to reduce drift and increase accuracy by countering systematic errors. Low drift operation was aided by maintaining the gyroscopes and accelerometers at a constant temperature of 60 °C. The elevated temperature was maintained when the aircraft was parked or undergoing maintenance.
During the 1982 Falklands war, RAF
Avro Vulcan
The Avro Vulcan (later Hawker Siddeley Vulcan from July 1963) is a jet-powered, tailless, delta-wing, high-altitude, strategic bomber, which was operated by the Royal Air Force (RAF) from 1956 until 1984. Aircraft manufacturer A.V. Roe and ...
s were fitted with Carousels from RAF
Vickers VC10
The Vickers VC10 is a mid-sized, narrow-body long-range British jet airliner designed and built by Vickers-Armstrongs (Aircraft) Ltd and first flown at Brooklands, Surrey, in 1962. The airliner was designed to operate on long-distance route ...
s to enable
Operation Black Buck
Operations Black Buck 1 to Black Buck 7 were seven extremely long-range ground attack missions conducted during the 1982 Falklands War by Royal Air Force (RAF) Vulcan bombers of the RAF Waddington Wing, comprising aircraft from 44, 50 and ...
.
Applications
*Military: C-5A/B, KC-135 and its derivatives, C-141
*Missiles: Thor IRBM, Titan II ICBM, Titan III heavy-lift launch system
*Spacecraft: Apollo Command Module (IMU only)
*Commercial: Boeing 747,
Vickers VC-10
The Vickers VC10 is a mid-sized, narrow-body long-range British jet airliner designed and built by Vickers-Armstrongs (Aircraft) Ltd and first flown at Brooklands, Surrey, in 1962. The airliner was designed to operate on long-distance rout ...
References
Avionics
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