Product Description
As paper navigational charts are replaced by vector images on computer screens, magnetic compasses enhanced by digital flux gate technology, and chronometers joined by atomic clocks, the demand has been mounting for an extensive update to the classic reference known worldwide as Dutton's. To meet the varied needs of today's recreational, naval, and commercial navigators the Naval Institute introduces this new edition of a guide that has remained the seafarers' choice for more than three-quarters of a century. It blends the traditional navigation techniques first compiled by Benjamin Dutton in 1926 with technological marvels of the twenty-first century to authoritatively cover all phases of surface navigation. For example, while the book acknowledges that many navigators still peer into the skies through sextant telescopes, it also helps them take full advantage of man-made Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites.

Valued as both an indispensable quick reference and a comprehensive text, Dutton's makes accessible such foreboding subjects as spherical trigonometry through the use of step-by-step explanations and examples that encourage practical use. To insure accuracy and relevancy, a board of experts made up of naval and Coast Guard officers, merchant mariners, accredited harbor pilots, and sea-service academy professors, has carefully reviewed this fifteenth edition. The result is an unparalleled treatment of the art and science of nautical navigation that both amateur and veteran navigators will use to safely navigate the waters of the world. 132 illustrations. Appendixes. Index. 81/2 x 11 inches. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

Dutton's Nautical Navigation15th edition
I thought that Dutton's explanation of basic celestial navigation was easier to understand and ultimately to use than the explaination given in the Bowditch American Practical Navigator 2002 edition.

Dutton's Nautical Navigation
How one person can have such a comprehensive knowledge of a subject and still provide the information in a useful and pragmatic format is just a pleasure to read. This text walks you through the history of navigation, practical current application and pitfalls of all aspects of navigation theory and application. It is an easy read, well documented and focused without flare and sidelines. Very helpful, will be a standard reference in my navigational education.

Good book, but needs a technical editor
Dutton's is well illustrated and clearly written and it covers a lot of ground.However, it is full of technical errors.When I was writing a sailings application I worked the example problems in the sailings section of the book and was distressed to find they were full of mistakes.Later, when I took my Captain's course I spoke about this with the navigation instructor there and he claimed that he never used Dutton's examples because the problems are wide spread.So, I'd suggest reading Dutton's for the prose and then going to Bowditch if you need the math.This is all a bit sad as Dutton's is a text book and into it's 15th edition.

My first perchase from Amazon.com
It's cheap and fast than I thought, I hope do more bussiness with Amazon.com.Huang.

The beginnings
Dutton's is a good intro for anyone who dreams of being a sailor, or actually intends to do something about it someday.It is arranged in logical style and the material is presented in straightforward and easily understandable terms.Such details as tides, currents & piloting as well as the more esoteric matters of Hyperbolic, Celestial and Bathymetric Navigation are explained.Having finished Dutton's, the actual or would-be sailor/navigator will be ready to pick up a copy of Bowditch and head down to the sea. ... Read more

Product Description
While some automatic navigation systems can use external measurements to determine their position (as the driver of a car uses road signs, or more recent automated systems use satellite data), others (such as those used in submarines) cannot. They must rely instead on internal measurements of the acceleration to determine their speed and position. Such inertial guidance systems have been in use since Word War II, and modern navigation would be impossible without them. This book describes the inertial technology used for guidance, control, and navigation, discussing in detail the principles, operation, and design of sensors, gyroscopes, and accelerometers, as well as the advantages and disadvantages of particular systems. An engineer with long practical experience in the field, the author elucidates the most recent developments in inertial guidance. Among these are fiber-optic gyroscopes, solid-state accelerometers, and the Global Positioning System. The book should be of interest to researchers and practicing engineers involved in systems engineering, aeronautics, space research, and navigation on land and on sea. This second edition has been brought up to date throughout, and includes new material on micromachined gyroscopes. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Good overview, but not detailed
This is a good overview to hand a beginning avionics or flight controls engineer who needs to get familiar with the very basic principles of inertial nav. Good coverage of various types of instruments, but many of the designs covered are outdated and of little use in modern design work. Given the paucity of works in this field, I welcomed it as an introductory text, but you could not perform any serious trade studies for a real design with only the knowledge in this book. It doesn't cover GPS in any depth, or the important topic of GPS/INS blending. Other topics missing are a good intro to optical gyros (Sagnac effect) and the overall integration of nav systems (steering modes, landing systems, cooperative nav, effects on weapons delivery, and so on). Still, for the money, I would recommend it to a neophyte who has some extra cash...you have to start somewhere!

Modern Inertial Technology
This book has the potential of being extremely useful; certainly it is an ambitions book. In the discussions of the mechanical gyros the disertation flows fairly well. However, once into the optical gyros, the result is just about worthless. The Sagnac Effect is the basis for all optical gyros such as the ring laser and the fibre optic gyro. The discussion of this effect is just about useless. It is virtually impossible to see how one equation follows from the preceding equation. The fringe shift from two interfering beams which rotate in opposite direction is the basis of all optical gyros, but the discussion in Lawrence's book is little more than hand waving. In other words, if the reader has a background in optical physics, then the discussion makes some sense. However, the book must be judged upon its own merits and here I think it fails miserably. So I would recommend the book for the discussion of mechanical gyros but as an introduction to optical gyros I would recommend that the reader look elsewhere.

A modern source in a modest body of literature
The technology in the field is quite advanced, and the research is particulary active and in costant evolution. Producing a comprehensive reference is quite difficult but the author delivers clearly the advantages and disadvantages of each system analyzed in the book. As a guide, the work has neatly reached its goal, since it delivers a clear picture of the current state of art and the trend of each system development. In fact the author is covering every subject quite extensively without the dispersion of innumerable specific technical papers, which are, of course, much more detailed but far from comprehending the scope of the whole field.

The only point is the mathematical level,that is maybe too simplefor engineers and scientists, and a little bit complicated for the average pilot, one of the most interested user in the field. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Answers for all practicers
This classic navigation reference explains recent developments in satellite and electronic navigation and in the use of navigational computers and calculators. The most recent edition of Chart No.1 prepared by the National Ocean Service is also included. For a firm foundation in piloting, dead reckoning, celestial navigation, and radionavigation, and fast access to specific information, it is the reference to use.But, for an user, this is a better moment to practice navigation "on the paper". ... Read more