A Ring Laser Gyro Inertial Measurement Unit Designed For System Integration Flexibility

Richard Eichner, Robert Hansen, and Richard Ouellette

Abstract:	Northrop has developed an Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU)that utilizes Ring Laser Gyros (RLG) and miniature Micro-machined Silicon Accelerometers (MSA). The RLG uses magnetic mirror technology to circumvent the low-rate lock in phenomenon inherent in RLG operation, permitting a simpler unit that can be economically manufactured. The result is a compact, low cost unit ideally suited for application flexibility. By eliminating the mechanical components required in suspended dither-motor designs, the unit can be simply mounted to the host vehicle. This avoids the isolation and filtering required to compensate for cross coupling and system interaction associated with mechanically dithered RLGs. Testing demonstrated 1 ‘/hour and 1 mill-g bias stability and 10 ppm scale factor error. Near term future government testing of the assembled IMU is planned to certify the unit for missile environments. The design flexibility permits integration of the IMU with a variety of inertial aids, which results in a mutually aided inertial system demonstrating enhanced performance. The interoperation of the IMU and navigation aid provides a cost effective solution for a broad class of navigation and guidance system requirements.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 1991 National Technical Meeting of The Institute of Navigation January 22 - 24, 1991 Sheraton San Marcos Hotel Phoenix, AZ
Pages:	237 - 246
Cite this article:	Eichner, Richard, Hansen, Robert, Ouellette, Richard, "A Ring Laser Gyro Inertial Measurement Unit Designed For System Integration Flexibility," Proceedings of the 1991 National Technical Meeting of The Institute of Navigation, Phoenix, AZ, January 1991, pp. 237-246.
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