Aging tests for Fiber Optic IMUs and INSs are not redundant costs—they are scientific methods to forecast shelf life, establish warranty periods, and ensure mission reliability under real-world stress.

A fiber optic INS initializes before takeoff by stabilizing temperature, aligning gyroscopes and accelerometers, estimating bias, and performing coarse-to-fine attitude alignment—ensuring accurate navigation from the first second of flight.

Powering on a fiber optic IMU regularly stabilizes its thermal environment, refreshes bias calibration, and prevents long-term degradation of electronic components—ensuring fast startup and dependable performance.

A FOG north finder and a FOG INS are not the same. A north finder provides true heading using Earth’s rotation, while a FOG INS delivers full navigation data—position, velocity, and attitude—through gyroscopes, accelerometers, and navigation algorithms.

FOGs often fail in the field not due to poor design, but because of usage errors—misalignment, vibration, weak calibration, or ignoring EMI. Avoiding these 10 common mistakes ensures navigation-grade performance. GuideNav provides ITAR-free FOGs with expert integration support to help buyers and engineers succeed.

Open-loop FOGs are compact and cost-effective, with medium accuracy (1–10 °/h) for UAVs and robots. Closed-loop FOGs deliver ultra-high precision (0.001–0.1 °/h), making them essential in submarines, missiles, and aerospace systems.