Gyro Technology: What Is on the Horizon?

Felix Goldenberg

Abstract:	This paper presents a brief review of the evolution of gyro technology in the last 25–30 years. Inertial sensors have seen a steady improvement in their performance, but not all technologies have shown the improvements predicted. Following a brief introduction to modern gyro technologies, the current status of gyro technology is discussed. Micro-electromechanical (MEMS) and optical gyro technologies appear to represent the most demanding and fast progressing products with unique features. One features small size, low cost and reasonable performance in harsh environments, while the other is superior in accuracy, already has visible achievements in miniaturization and has successfully penetrated the market for high and low end applications. Comprehensive, wide-temperature-range test results on silicon, quartz MEMS gyros and Fiber-Optic Gyros (FOG) presented in this paper emphasize that repeatability is the most meaningful figure of merit of gyro performance for practical applications. These test results indicate that for a number of applications where small size, high accuracy and wide bandwidth are critical parameters, FOG gyros can be a preferable solution as compared to MEMS, due to their small size, convenient packaging design configuration and higher performance characteristics.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 2005 National Technical Meeting of The Institute of Navigation January 24 - 26, 2005 The Catamaran Resort Hotel San Diego, CA
Pages:	939 - 950
Cite this article:	Goldenberg, Felix, "Gyro Technology: What Is on the Horizon?," Proceedings of the 2005 National Technical Meeting of The Institute of Navigation, San Diego, CA, January 2005, pp. 939-950.
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