Control ofMEMS DiscResonance Gyroscope (DRG)using aFPGA Platform

Inertial navigation systems baseduponoptical gyroscopes tendtobeexpensive, large, powerconsumptive, andarenotlonglived. Micro-Electromechanical Systems (MEMS)basedgyrosdonothavetheseshortcomings; however, until recently, theperformance ofMEMS based gyroshadbeenbelownavigation grade. Boeing andJPL havebeenco-operating since1997todevelop high performance MEMS gyroscopes forminiature, lowpower spaceInertial Reference Unitapplications'2. Theefforts resulted indemonstration ofaPostResonator Gyroscope (PRG).Thisexperience ledtothemorecompact Disc Resonator Gyroscope (DRG)forfurther reduced size and powerwithpotentially increased performance. Currently, themass, volume andpoweroftheDRG aredominated by thesize oftheelectronics. Thispaper will detail theFPGA based digital electronics architecture andits implementation fortheDRG whichwill allow reduction ofsize andpower andwillincrease performance through a reduction in electronics noise. Using thedigital control based onFPGA, wecanprogram andmodify inreal-time thecontrol loop to adapt tothespecificity ofeachparticular gyroandthe change ofthemechanical characteristic ofthegyroduring its life time.