Dead reckoning

<p>In <a href="/facts/Navigation/sGGAJ0AQ">navigation</a>, dead reckoning is the process of calculating the current position of a moving object by using a previously determined position, or <a href="/facts/Fix_(position)/yY41HfWV">fix</a>, and incorporating estimates of speed, heading (or direction or course), and elapsed time. The corresponding term in biology, to describe the processes by which animals update their estimates of position or heading, is <a href="/facts/Path_integration/U6sxe4pX">path integration</a>.
</p><p>Advances in <a href="/facts/Navigational_aid/AHdWcNxK">navigational aids</a> that give accurate information on position, in particular <a href="/facts/Satellite_navigation/lVgPlF5v">satellite navigation</a> using the <a href="/facts/Global_Positioning_System/DKVLnzF3">Global Positioning System</a>, have made simple dead reckoning by humans obsolete for most purposes. However, <a href="/facts/Inertial_navigation_system/UzUTMhK2">inertial navigation systems</a>, which provide very accurate directional information, use dead reckoning and are very widely applied.
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Dead reckoning open-in-new

Dead reckoning