saturable-inductor compass

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Last updated

July 13, 2026

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A saturable-inductor compass is a type of compass that uses materials capable of magnetic saturation to provide directional information. It is often mounted on a gyroscope to maintain a horizontal platform, which helps to avoid errors that can occur in aircraft and fast vessels due to changes in course or speed.1

While a direct-reading magnetic compass has limitations in dynamic environments, the saturable-inductor compass, when combined with a directional gyroscope, offers a stable and accurate navigational reference. The gyroscope provides a directional line in space, and its potential drift can be corrected by the magnetic compass during straight and level flight.1

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The gyromagnetic compass
In one such arrangement, a saturable-inductor compass (so named because of its use of materials that can be readily induced to carry a maximum magnetic flow, or magnetic saturation) is mounted on a gyroscope, but this is not always convenient from the point of view of size and weight.
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In one such arrangement, a saturable-inductor compass (so named because of its use of materials that can be readily induced to carry a maximum magnetic flow, or magnetic saturation) is mounted on a gyroscope, but this is not always convenient from the point of view of size and weight.
Read More