Navigation grade MEMS Gyro

在航空航天、汽车、机器人、水下等广泛的应用中，对精确测量运动和位置的需求越来越大。这其中的关键是惯性导航系统，它不依赖全球定位系统来测量运动和确定位置。在惯性导航系统中，关键技术是惯性测量单元(IMU)。IMU是三轴加速度计和三轴陀螺仪的组合。精确度和特别是偏置不稳定性是提供准确定位的关键。目前，高端IMU市场是由光纤陀螺仪服务的，但这些陀螺仪体积大，成本高。长期以来，MEMS传感器一直被视为解决这一问题的潜在解决方案，因为它们体积小，而且能够大规模生产。然而，目前基于电容的MEMS传感器并不具备高端IMU市场所需的性能。硅微重力是剑桥大学的衍生产品，剑桥大学正在开发基于其共振振梁MEMS技术的高端加速度计和陀螺仪。该项目在加速度计和重力传感器工作的基础上，开发了偏置不稳定性为0.01°/小时的导航级MEMS陀螺仪。这将是一项突破性的技术，使MEMS第一次能够与迄今为止专门的光纤陀螺仪的解决方案直接竞争。

There is an increasing need to accurately measure movement and position in a broad range of applications including aerospace, automotive, robotics, underwater to name a few. Key to this are Inertial Navigation systems that do not rely on global positioning systems to measure movement and determine location. Within Inertial Navigation systems, the key technology is the Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU). An IMU is a combination of 3-axis accelerometers and 3-axis gyroscopes. Accuracy and specifically Bias Instability are key to delivering accurate positioning. Presently the high end IMU market is serviced by Fibre Optic Gyroscopes but these are large in size and costly. MEMS sensors have long been seen as a potential solution to this due to their small size and ability to be manufactured in large volumes. However, the present capacitance-based MEMS sensors do not have the performance required for the high-end IMU market.Silicon Microgravity is a spin-out of Cambridge University which is developing high-end accelerometers and gyroscopes based on its resonant vibrating beam MEMS technology. This project builds on its work on accelerometers and gravity sensors to develop a Navigation grade MEMS gyroscope with a Bias Instability of 0.01°/hr. This would be a breakthrough technology allowing MEMS for the first time to compete directly with solutions hitherto the preserve of specialised fibre optic gyroscopes.