MEMS gyroscope for miniaturized space attitude control system

Space applications impose strict requirements on gyroscope design including high accuracy, precision, shock resistance, reduced non-linearity and sensitivity to external factors such as temperature variation. Vibrating ring gyroscopes (VRG) have been shown to achieve a high scale-factor with low non- linearity while their shock resistance can be enhanced with some structural modifications. They also show a good alignment between the drive and sense-mode resonance frequency and with some tuning, the quadrature error can be nearly eliminated thus minimizing device sensitivity on external factors. We have developed a preliminary design of a VRG with C-shaped inner­rings for high shock resistance, which we have been evaluating using a simulation workbench that we have developed using Coventor's MEMS+ and Matlab.