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Reverse-engineering a three-axis attitude indicator from the F-4 fighter plane
We recently received an attitude indicator for the F-4 fighter plane, an instrument that uses a rotating ball to show the aircraft's orienta...
(The quick explanation is that the ball is really two hollow half-shells attached to the internal mechanism at the "poles"; the shells rotate while the "equator" remains stationary.) In more detail, the external gyroscope unit contains synchro transmitters, small devices that convert the angular position of a shaft into AC signals on three wires. If the aircraft is roughly horizontal, the potentiometer wiper will pick up the positive-phase AC and feed it into the transformer, providing the desired trim adjustment as described previously.
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