Evolution of Precision IFOG

Gary Adams, Neal Barnett, Lee Insley and Stephen Vajda

Abstract:	This paper describes the history of technological advancement made in developing Interferometric Fiber Optic Gyroscopes (IFOG) for Navy marine applications. This paper will begin by summarizing the investigative work done in demonstrating the feasibility of IFOG technology for marine applications to meet gyrocompass grade performance and will conclude with the work currently being done to extend the IFOG technology to the most demanding application, the strategic inertial navigator aboard the Trident class submarines. The paper will further explore the development of the strategic grade IFOG and describe the iterative approach taken to bring the gyro to strategic grade performance. This approach has led to a cycle of repeated design, build, and test phases with steady progress being made in each phase, leading to the current state-of-the-art precision IFOG. Each gyro model mechanization including the Proof-Of- Concept, Advanced Development Model I and finally the Advanced Development Model II gyros will be described. The relative performance improvement achieved with each gyro design will be discussed. Finally the remaining technical challenges and future plans will be presented.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 57th Annual Meeting of The Institute of Navigation (2001) June 11 - 13, 2001 Albuquerque, NM
Pages:	200 - 204
Cite this article:	Adams, Gary, Barnett, Neal, Insley, Lee, Vajda, Stephen, "Evolution of Precision IFOG," Proceedings of the 57th Annual Meeting of The Institute of Navigation (2001), Albuquerque, NM, June 2001, pp. 200-204.
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