From Conception To The Field: Fiber Optic Gyro Development At Mcdonnell Douglas

McDonnell Douglas initiated a program to develop fiber optic gyros in 1977. During the 1977 to 1986 time period a series of key milestones were achieved including the first fiber optic gyro with linear digital output, the first all solid-state optical gyro, the first fiber optic gyro optical head of a size compatible with tactical requirements, the first practical means of correcting for scale factor error due to wavelength shifts and the first fiber optic gyro product. These efforts as well as the future direction of fiber optic gyro development at McDonnell Douglas are summarized.