[Animats]

And for a little less, you can buy the original, from Analog Devices.[1]

Those things are getting really good. The drift specs keep getting better - a few degrees per hour now. The last time I used that kind of thing it was many degrees per minute.

Linear motion is still a problem, because, if all you have is accelerometers, position and velocity error accumulates rapidly. A drone with a downward looking camera can get a vector from simple optical flow and use that to correct the IMU. Won't work very well over water, though.

[1] https://www.analog.com/en/products/ADIS16460.html

[sigmoid10]

>Linear motion is still a problem, because, if all you have is accelerometers, position and velocity error accumulates rapidly.

An INS will usually need some kind of sensor fusion to become accurate anyways. Like how certain intercontinental ballistic missiles use stars (sometimes only a single one) as reference. But all these things are based on the assumption of clear sight and even this google maps image based navigation will fail if the weather is bad.

[Animats]

10^-5 degrees/hour drift was achieved in the 1970s, for ICBMs, at very high cost.

[pjc50]

The laser ring gyro? It'll be fun when those start showing up on Aliexpress.