Discussion
Consider the following statements about the sensors:
1. Rate gyros measure angular rate about three axes.
2. Accelerometers measure specific force, not acceleration alone.
3. Accelerometers can distinguish acceleration from gravity by themselves.
Which of the statements given above is or are correct?
Answer: C
Correct answer: 1 and 2 only
Statement 1 is correct: three orthogonal rate gyros measure the angular rate vector in body axes. Statement 2 is correct: an accelerometer measures specific force, which is the sum of the aircraft's acceleration and the reaction to gravity, which is why a stationary vertical accelerometer reads about \( 9.81\ \mathrm{m/s^2} \).
Statement 3 is false, and it is the direct consequence of statement 2. Both contributions act identically on the proof mass, so the sensor cannot separate them. That ambiguity is what limits the accelerometers to unaccelerated flight as a vertical reference, and it is a physical limit rather than a shortcoming of any particular design.
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