Silicon bulk micromachined vibratory gyroscope for microspacecraft

Tony K. Tang; Roman C. Gutierrez; Jaroslava Z. Wilcox; Christopher Stell; Vatche Vorperian; Mike Dickerson; Barry Goldstein; Joseph L. Savino; Wen Jung Li; Robert J. Calvet; Indrani Charkaborty; Randall K. Bartman; William J. Kaiser

doi:10.1117/12.255129

28 October 1996 Silicon bulk micromachined vibratory gyroscope for microspacecraft

Tony K. Tang, Roman C. Gutierrez, Jaroslava Z. Wilcox, Christopher Stell, Vatche Vorperian, Mike Dickerson, Barry Goldstein, Joseph L. Savino, Wen Jung Li, Robert J. Calvet, Indrani Charkaborty, Randall K. Bartman, William J. Kaiser

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 2810, Space Sciencecraft Control and Tracking in the New Millennium; (1996) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.255129
Event: SPIE's 1996 International Symposium on Optical Science, Engineering, and Instrumentation, 1996, Denver, CO, United States

Abstract

This paper reports on the design, modeling, fabrication, and characterization of a novel silicon bulk micromachined vibratory rate gyroscope and a 3-axes rotation sensing system using this new type of microgyroscopes designed for microspacecraft applications. The new microgyroscope consists of a silicon four leaf clover structure with a post attached to the center. The whole structure is suspended by four thin silicon cantilevers. This device is electrostatically actuated and detects Coriolis induced motions of the leaves capacitively. A prototype of this microgyroscope has a rotation responsivity (scale factor) of 10.4 mV/deg/sec with scale factor nonlinearity of less than 1%, and a minimum detectable noise equivalent rotation rate of 90 deg/hr, at an integration time of 1 second. The bias stability of this microgyroscope is better than 29 deg/hr. The performance of this microgyroscope is limited by the electronic circuit noise and drift. Planned improvements in the fabrication and assembly of the microgyroscope will allow the use of Q-factor amplification to increase the sensitivity of the device by at least two to three orders of magnitude. This new vibratory microgyroscope offers potential advantages of almost unlimited operational life, high performance, extremely compact size, low power operation, and low cost for inertial navigation and altitude control.

Citation Download Citation

Tony K. Tang, Roman C. Gutierrez, Jaroslava Z. Wilcox, Christopher Stell, Vatche Vorperian, Mike Dickerson, Barry Goldstein, Joseph L. Savino, Wen Jung Li, Robert J. Calvet, Indrani Charkaborty, Randall K. Bartman, and William J. Kaiser "Silicon bulk micromachined vibratory gyroscope for microspacecraft", Proc. SPIE 2810, Space Sciencecraft Control and Tracking in the New Millennium, (28 October 1996); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.255129

ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE

INSTITUTIONAL
Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.

SELECT YOUR INSTITUTION

PERSONAL
Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.

PERSONAL SIGN IN

No SPIE Account? Create one

;

PURCHASE THIS CONTENT

SUBSCRIBE TO DIGITAL LIBRARY

50 downloads per 1-year subscription

Members: $195

Non-members: $335 ADD TO CART

25 downloads per 1 - year subscription

Members: $145

Non-members: $250 ADD TO CART

PURCHASE SINGLE ARTICLE