After more than a decade of deep involvement in the INS field, almost all misconceptions about it have been heard—some from people outside the industry, and surprisingly, some from fellow engineers.
One of the biggest misconceptions heard is that INS is "outdated" with the advent of artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced GPS, but the truth is far from it.
On the contrary, AI and GPS have made INS more important than ever before, because when signals are interrupted or high precision is required, these technologies all need to rely on INS to make up for deficiencies.
It’s hard to forget a project early in the career, where a group of young engineers tried to design a navigation system for a small autonomous boat using only GPS and AI, but couldn’t figure out why the boat always deviated from the course when passing under bridges or near tall buildings.
They thought INS was "unnecessary" and refused to add it, but after finally convincing them to integrate a small INS module, the boat’s navigation performance became rock-solid.
This kind of mistake has been seen many times—people underestimate the failure rate of GPS, even in seemingly simple environments, it may have problems.
Another common misconception is that INS is "expensive" or "bulky" and not suitable for small devices, but this has not been the case for many years.
In the early days of the career, INS was large, heavy, and cost tens of thousands of US dollars, but now, a small high-precision INS module can be bought for less than 100 US dollars, small enough to fit into a smartwatch or a toy drone.
Conversations have been had with some engineers who think INS requires frequent calibration and maintenance, which was indeed the case in the past, but modern INS is equipped with self-calibrating sensors and temperature compensation functions, making it almost "set-it-and-forget-it" for most application scenarios.
One of the funniest misconceptions heard is that INS "only applies to high-speed moving objects," but this is not true at all—it has been applied in various scenarios, from low-speed agricultural robots that map farmland to fixed sensors that monitor tiny displacements of buildings.
What is most frustrating is that people simply classify INS as a "backup-only" technology, because in many cases, it is actually the primary navigation system, especially in environments where GPS is unreliable or poses safety risks.
There have been some military projects where INS is the only navigation system used, because relying on GPS is too risky—signals may be jammed, intercepted or blocked, but INS works under any circumstances.
Over the years, it has been found that the best way to break these misconceptions is to show people the real-world applications of INS, rather than just talking about technical parameters.
Whether it’s demonstrating a drone’s navigation capability in a signal-free environment or showing how INS keeps a submarine on course in the deep sea, seeing is believing.
For practitioners, the job is not only to design and test INS, but also to popularize its value to people—because when you truly understand how INS works, you will find it everywhere, and you will develop a new respect for this quiet and reliable technology that keeps everything on track.
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