MEMS Gyroscopes for Consumers and Industrial Applications

none2mixedAntonello, Riccardo; Oboe, RobertoAntonello, Riccardo; Oboe, Robert

Optoelectronic Design of a Closed-Loop Depolarized IFOG with Sinusoidal Phase Modulation for Intermediate Grade Applications

A depolarized fiber optic gyroscope (DFOG) prototype with closed-loop configuration, sinusoidal-bias, and serrodyne-feedback electrooptic phase modulations was designed. A complete optoelectronic design is realized by using computational simulation tools (optical subsystem: Synopsys®-Optsim™ software and electronic subsystem: National Instruments®-MultiSim™ software). The design presented here includes both optical and electronic circuits, being the main innovation, is the use of an analogical integrator provided with reset and placed in the feedback of the electrooptic phase-modulation chain that produces a serrodyne-shaped voltage ramp signal for obtaining the interferometric signal phase cancellation. The performance obtained for this model (threshold sensitivity ≤0.052°/h; dynamic range = ± 78.19°/s) does reach the IFOG intermediate grade (tactical and industrial applications) and does demonstrate the suitability and reliability of simulation-based software tools for this kind of optoelectronic design

Readout Method And Electronic Bandwidth Control For A Silicon In-plane Tuning Fork Gyroscope

Disclosed are methods and a sensor architecture that utilizes the residual quadrature error in a gyroscope to achieve and maintain perfect mode-matching, i.e., ~0 Hz split between the drive and sense mode frequencies, and to electronically control sensor bandwidth. In a reduced-to-practice embodiment, a 6 mW, 3V CMOS ASIC and control algorithm are interfaced to a mode-matched MEMS tuning fork gyroscope to implement an angular rate sensor with bias drift as low as 0.15°/hr and angle random walk of 0.003°/√hr, which is the lowest recorded to date for a silicon MEMS gyroscope. The system bandwidth can be configured between 0.1 Hz and 1 kHz.Georgia Tech Research Coporatio

Theoretical design of a depolarized interferometric fiber-optic gyroscope (IFOG) on SMF-28 single-mode standard optical fiber based on closed-loop sinusoidal phase modulation with serrodyne feedback phase modulation using simulation tools for tactical and industrial grade applications

This article presents, by means of computational simulation tools, a full analysis and design of an Interferometric Fiber-Optic Gyroscope (IFOG) prototype based on a closed-loop configuration with sinusoidal bias phase- modulation. The complete design of the different blocks, optical and electronic, is presented, including some novelties as the sinusoidal bias phase-modulation and the use of an integrator to generate the serrodyne phase-modulation signal. The paper includes detailed calculation of most parameter values, and the plots of the resulting signals obtained from simulation tools. The design is focused in the use of a standard single-mode optical fiber, allowing a cost competitive implementation compared to commercial IFOG, at the expense of reduced sensitivity. The design contains an IFOG model that accomplishes tactical and industrial grade applications (sensitivity ≤ 0.055 °/h). This design presents two important properties: (1) an optical subsystem with advanced conception: depolarization of the optical wave by means of Lyot depolarizers, which allows to use a sensing coil made by standard optical fiber, instead by polarization maintaining fiber, which supposes consequent cost savings and (2) a novel and simple electronic design that incorporates a linear analog integrator with reset in feedback chain, this integrator generating a serrodyne voltage-wave to apply to Phase-Modulator (PM), so that it will be obtained the interferometric phase cancellation. This particular feedback design with sawtooth-wave generated signal for a closed-loop configuration with sinusoidal bias phase modulation has not been reported till now in the scientific literature and supposes a considerable simplification with regard to previous designs based on similar configurations. The sensing coil consists of an 8 cm average diameter spool that contains 300 m of standard single-mode optical-fiber (SMF-28 type) realized by quadrupolar winding. The working wavelength will be 1310 nm. The theoretical calculated values of threshold sensitivity and dynamic range for this prototype are 0.052 °/h and 101.38 dB (from ±1.164 × 10−5 °/s up to ±78.19 °/s), respectively. The Scale-Factor (SF) non-linearity for this model is 5.404% relative to full scale, this value being obtained from data simulation results

Characterization of errors and noises in MEMS inertial sensors using Allan variance method

This thesis work has addressed the problems of characterizing and identifying the noises inherent to inertial sensors as gyros and accelerometers, which are embedded in inertial navigation systems, with the purpose of estimating the errors on the obtained position. The analysis of the Allan Variance method (AVAR) to characterize and identify the noises related to these sensors, has been done. The practical implementation of the AVAR method for the noises characterization has been performed over an experimental setup using the IMU 3DM-GX3 -25 data and the Matlab environment. From the AVAR plots it was possible to identify the Angle Random Walk and the Bias Instability in the gyros, and the Velocity Random Walk and Bias Instability in the accelerometers. A denoising process was also performed by using the Discrete Wavelet Transforms and the Median Filter. After the filtering the AVAR plots showed that the ARW was almost removed or attenuated using Wavelets, but not good results were obtained with the Median Filter

The 1994 Fiber Optic Sensors for Aerospace Technology (FOSAT) Workshop

The NASA Lewis Research Center conducted a workshop on fiber optic technology on October 18-20, 1994. The workshop objective was to discuss the future direction of fiber optics and optical sensor research, especially in the aerospace arena. The workshop was separated into four sections: (1) a Systems Section which dealt specifically with top level overall architectures for the aircraft and engine; (2) a Subsystems Section considered the parts and pieces that made up the subsystems of the overall systems; (3) a Sensor/Actuators section considered the status of research on passive optical sensors and optical powered actuators; and (4) Components Section which addressed the interconnects for the optical systems (e.g., optical connectors, optical fibers, etc.). This report contains the minutes of the discussion on the workshop, both in each section and in the plenary sessions. The slides used by a limited number of presenters are also included as presented. No attempt was made to homogenize this report. The view of most of the attendees was: (1) the government must do a better job of disseminating technical information in a more timely fashion; (2) enough work has been done on the components, and system level architecture definition must dictate what work should be done on components; (3) a Photonics Steering Committee should be formed to coordinate the efforts of government and industry in the photonics area, to make sure that programs complimented each other and that technology transferred from one program was used in other programs to the best advantage of the government and industry

Real-time observation of the optical Sagnac effect in ultrafast bidirectional fibre lasers

The optical Sagnac effect sets fundamentals of the operating principle for ring laser and fiber optic gyroscopes, which are preferred instruments for inertial guidance systems, seismology, and geodesy. Operating at both high bias stability and angular velocity resolutions demands special precautions like dithering or multimode operation to eliminate frequency lock-in or similar effects introduced due to synchronization of counterpropagating channels. Recently, to circumvent these limitations, ultrashort pulsed radiation was suggested to supersede conventional continuous wave operation. Despite the ultrafast nature of ultrashort pulse generation, the interrogation of the Sagnac effect relies on highly averaging measurement methods. Here, we demonstrate the novel approach to the optical Sagnac effect visualization by applying real-time spatiooral intensity processing and time-resolved spectral domain measurements of ultrashort pulse dynamics in rotating the bidirectional ring fiber laser cavity. Our results reveal the high potential of application of novel methods of optical Sagnac effect measurements, allowing enhancement of rotation sensitivity and resolution by several orders of magnitude