Symmetric piezoelectric CVG with digital control electronics

Abstract

This paper presents the digital control of a symmetric, piezoelectrically-transduced Coriolis Vibratory Gyro (CVG) with improved performance and design for compact ASIC implementation in terrestrial and space environments. Previously a metallic PZT transduced cylindrical resonator with simple analog control electronics resulted in a successful low noise rate gyro produced by Innalabs [1, 2] for stabilization and targeting applications and satellite pointing. This work details key benefits of applying a very low noise digital control and demodulation approach that extends InertialWave's previous work on generalized feedback control of capacitive CVG's [3]. This has been demonstrated at breadboard level to further reduce rate noise toward the very low, 60 μdeg/rt-h mechanical thermal noise (MTN) inherent in its massive 23 mm, high quality resonator and points to a clear path for achieving navigation grade performance in a mass producible CVG and compact three-axis IRU or IMU assembly.