Abstract A prototype of attitude measure system based on Micro Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) inertial sensors is proposed and the system can experience acceleration not exceeding 6g as well as the angular rotation not exceeding ±300°/s. Three axis accelerometer and yaw rate gyro are used. A methodology for calibrating accelerometers and rate gyros used in this system is developed, and the testing results are gained. In order to reduce errors of roll and pitch, the direction cosine matrix is adjusted with the accelerometers’ outputs directly. Attitude measure experiments show that the system can update the attitude parameters at the speed of 100Hz. When conditions of adjusting the attitude matrix are satisfied, attitude measure error is less than 1°.