IRU Federal Aviation Administration Abbreviation

Inertial Reference Unit

Is a type of inertial sensor which uses gyroscopes (electromechanical, ring laser gyro or MEMS) and accelerometers (electromechanical or MEMS) to determine a moving aircraft’s or spacecraft’s change in rotational attitude (angular orientation relative to some reference frame) and translational position (typically latitude, longitude and altitude) over a period of time.