Design of a Novel MEMS Gyroscope Array

Abstract

This paper reports a novel four degree-of-freedom (DOF) MEMS vibratory gyroscope. A MEMS gyroscope array is then presented using the novel gyroscope unit. In the design of the proposed 4-DOF MEMS vibratory gyroscope, the elements of the drive-mode are set inside the whole gyroscope architecture, and the elements of sense-mode are set around the drive-mode, which thus makes it possible to combine several gyroscope units into a gyroscope array through sense-modes of all the units. The complete 2-DOFvibratory structure is utilized in both the drive-mode and sense-mode of the gyroscope unit, thereby providing the desired bandwidth and inherent robustness. The gyroscope array combines several gyroscope units by using the unique detection mass, which will increase the gain of sense-mode and improve the sensitivity of the system. The simulation results demonstrate that, compared to a single gyroscope unit, the gain of gyroscope array (n = 6)is increased by about 8 dB; a 3 dB bandwidth of 100 Hz in sense-mode and 190 Hz in drive-mode are also provided. The bandwidths of both modes are highly matched with each other, providing a bandwidth of 100 Hz for the entire system, thus illustrating that it could satisfy the requirements in practical applications.

Research on Signal Processing of MEMS Gyro Array

“…where is equal to slowly variant random quantity, which is denoted as the gyro drift, and is white noise process denoted as ARW noise. Mathematically, the gyro drift can be modeled as a random walk, driven by term , denoted as RRW noise [4,5]. Consideṙ= ,…”

“…Recently, the development of microelectromechanical system (MEMS) technologies [1][2][3] enables us to have a MEMS gyro small enough, which has a great potential to be applied to many applications such as virtual reality, car navigation, inertial navigation for small air vehicles, and space avionics. Moreover, for conventional gyros, such as mechanical or optical gyros, they have other good properties including (1) compact size, (2) small weight, (3) low power consumption, (4) low cost micromachining process, and (5) ease of mass production [4,5]. These factors offer a wide range of applications for MEMS gyros, ranging from stability and navigation control in spacecraft to rollover detection for automotive applications, consumer electronics, robotics, and a variety of military applications.…”

“…In this paper, a signal processing technique for a MEMS gyro array, combining individual gyros into a single rate estimation [4,5], is brought up to improve gyro accuracy. A new random drift model of gyro is presented firstly.…”

Analysis of Dynamic Performance of a Kalman Filter for Combining Multiple MEMS Gyroscopes

“…To date, low accuracy is one of the biggest bottlenecks in development of the MEMS gyroscope, which limits its applications requiring high-precision angular rate signals such as navigation and guidance. Recently, some researchers have explored the possibility to design an array structure of MEMS gyroscopes to improve the signal-to-noise ratio and sensitivity of the device [7,8], in which the sense units are connected to increase the overall detective capacity. Wang et al [7] designed a gyroscope array, which combines several gyroscope cells by using a unique detection mass to increase the gain of sense-mode and improve the system sensitivity.…”

“…Recently, some researchers have explored the possibility to design an array structure of MEMS gyroscopes to improve the signal-to-noise ratio and sensitivity of the device [7,8], in which the sense units are connected to increase the overall detective capacity. Wang et al [7] designed a gyroscope array, which combines several gyroscope cells by using a unique detection mass to increase the gain of sense-mode and improve the system sensitivity. Fortunately, the technology of multi-signal fusion for the gyroscope array is becoming an effective approach to reduce the measurement noise and improve the accuracy of the MEMS gyroscope [9][10][11], which is called the technology of virtual gyroscope [11].…”