ION Technical Content
A Miniature, Low-Cost IMU
| Abstract: | Existing Inertial Measurement Units (IMUs) fail to meet one or more of the size, weight, cost, environmental requirements of an increasing number of proposed expendable weapons. Recent advances in silicon accelerometer technology combined with novel coriolis based multisensor concepts and VLSI circuitry are leading to the development of an IMU with an order of magnitude reduction in size, weight, and cost. The principle of operation of the IMUs inertial multisensor sensor element is based on the use of vibrating accelerometers to sense angular rotation rates by measuring the induced coriolis accelerations. The coriolis accelerations are proportional to the vector cross product of the accelerometers vibration velocity and the applied angular rate. The angular rate information is modulated carrier signal which allows the accelerometers to simultaneously measure linear acceleration in the band below the vibration frequency. Unique to this design is the use of a single common velocity excitation for a complete three-axis system. The small size, low weight, and low projected cost for the IMU result from the development and application of closed loop silicon accelerometers. These accelerometers are micro-machined from silicon wafers. The principle of operation of the silicon accelerometer is a cantilever beam suspended pendulum electrostatically forced to the null of a capacitative pickoff. The signal fed back by the restoring electronics is proportional to acceleration. The paper discusses the background leading to the development of the multisensor and silicon accelerometer. principle of operation of the IMU are presented. The theory and Test results to date are also presented. |
| Published in: |
Proceedings of the 1990 National Technical Meeting of The Institute of Navigation January 23 - 25, 1990 Princess Resort Hotel San Diego, CA |
| Pages: | 167 - 167 |
| Cite this article: | Stewart, Robert E., "A Miniature, Low-Cost IMU," Proceedings of the 1990 National Technical Meeting of The Institute of Navigation, San Diego, CA, January 1990, pp. 167-167. |
| Full Paper: |
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