I-Corps: Navigation-Grade Micro Gyroscope

陀螺仪目前在国防、航空航天、消费电子、工业等领域有着广泛的应用。这是一个价值数十亿美元的市场，增长率非常高。目前所需尺寸、价位和精度的微型机电系统(MEMS)陀螺仪无法用于市场寻求的许多新应用，例如用于导航无人机、汽车和无法接收GPS信号的区域中的人类的导航单元，例如建筑物和隧道内。这些应用要求的精度比目前可用的MEMS陀螺仪高出约100倍。该项目旨在将超高精度微机电系统(MEMS)陀螺仪商业化，称为鸟缸谐振式陀螺仪(BRG)。这项工作将加深对主要能量损失机制的理解，以及进一步提高这些谐振器性能的方法。该团队已经论证了BRG概念的证明，并在实验室进行了非理想温度条件下的测试。该设备证明了准确性，并已被发现足以用于某些工业和军事应用(例如，天线、机器人或直升机平台的稳定)。通过参与i-Corps计划，该团队将联系使用陀螺仪的市场参与者，以了解他们的需求，包括满足和未满足的需求，有关单元尺寸、功率、成本和技术性能要求。该团队将努力了解其技术的潜在市场规模，并对该领域已有的竞争对手进行分析，看看他们如何以满足当前客户需求的方式供应市场。如果成功开发，BRG技术可以在广泛的新应用中采用。这将为利用超高性能MEMS陀螺仪开发硬件和软件创造新的就业机会，从而造福社会。

Gyroscope is currently used in a wide range of applications including defense, aerospace, consumer electronics, and industrial. It is a multi-billion dollar market with a very high growth rate. Current Micro Electromechanical Systems (MEMS) gyroscopes at the needed size, price point, and accuracy are not available to be used in many of the new applications the market seeks, such as in the navigation unit for guiding Unmanned Air Vehicles, automobiles, and humans in the regions where GPS signals are not receivable, for instance, inside buildings and tunnels. These applications require accuracy that is ~100 times higher than that of current available MEMS gyroscopes. This project aims to commercialize ultra-high-precision Micro Electromechanical Systems (MEMS) gyroscopes, called the birdbath resonator gyroscope (BRG). The proposed work will enhance the understanding of dominant energy loss mechanisms and ways to further improve the performance of these resonators.The team has demonstrated the proof of concept BRG, and was tested at the lab under non-ideal temperature conditions. The device demonstrated accuracy and has been found to be sufficient for some industrial and military applications (e.g. stabilization of platforms for antenna, robots, or helicopters). By participating in the I-Corps program, the team will contact market participants that use gyroscopes to understand their needs, both met and unmet, regarding unit size, power, cost, and technical performance requirements. The team will work to learn the potential market size for its technology, and conduct an analysis of competitors already in the space to see how they are supplying the marketplace in a way that meet current customer needs. If successfully developed, the BRG technology could be adopted in a wide range of new applications. This will benefit the society by creating new jobs for developing both hardware and software for utilizing ultra high performance MEMS gyroscopes.