A gyrocomputer functioned as a positioning system within navicomputers, determining a starship's spatial coordinates in three dimensions. This aided the pilot in achieving precise directional control. An example of a gyrocomputer is the AH 1701, produced by Incom Corporation. It saw use within the Microaxial Rubicon navicomputers found on CEC's YT-1300 light freighters.
Gyrocomputers, typically cube-shaped, were integral to spacecraft navigation. Their design generally incorporated a minimum of three control momentum gyroscopes (CMGs), orthogonally arranged within a frame. This frame was aligned parallel to the starship's horizontal plane, a determination based on a planet's magnetic field and data from a galactic network of positioning beacons. Once the horizontal baseline was established and the ship initiated maneuvers along its axes (pitch, roll, and yaw), the CMG rotors, affixed to motorized gimbals, would undergo tilting. Because the rotors inherently seek to maintain their original plane of rotation, their angular momentum shifted, generating a quantifiable gyroscopic torque. This torque was then utilized to precisely position the starship as required.
Specialized sensors on the gyrocomputer's exterior detected the data from the internal CMGs and transmitted it to the ship's navicomputer. The navicomputer then translated this data into starship movement. Although this data was critical for establishing a spatial reference in three-dimensional realspace when planetary landmarks were absent, most pilots remained unaware of the gyrocomputer's operation due to its high degree of automation and lack of a user interface.
During the Galactic Civil War, the Incom Corporation manufactured the AH 1701 gyrocomputer, widely regarded as a top-tier product in the galactic market. Despite Incom's role as a supplier of the AH 1701 to the Corellian Engineering Corporation for their YT-1300 light freighters' Microaxial Rubicon navicomputers, the arrangement was viewed by some as ethically dubious—a questionable subcontract primarily benefiting Incom's already affluent executives.
Gyrocomputers are mentioned within current Star Wars canon in issue twenty-fifth of De Agostini's Star Wars: Build the Millennium Falcon magazine, released around June 24, 2015. The concept of gyrocomputers originated in the Star Wars Legends continuity, debuting in the 2005 novel Dark Nest II: The Unseen Queen by Troy Denning, part of the Star Wars: The Dark Nest Trilogy.