THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS PROPOSAL IS TO DEMONSTRATE THE FEASIBILITY OF A FULLY PACKAGED MICROELECTROMECHANICAL…

Public award description

THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS PROPOSAL IS TO DEMONSTRATE THE FEASIBILITY OF A FULLY PACKAGED MICROELECTROMECHANICAL (MEMS) GYROSCOPE WITH A 7 MILLIARCSECOND POINTING ACCURACY SUFFICIENT FOR SPACE AND TERRESTRIAL TELESCOPE POINTING APPLICATIONS. THIS NEW ENVIRONMENTAL RESISTANT PACKAGED (ERP) RESONANT GYROSCOPE WILL HAVE A SMALL SIZE, WEIGHT AND POWER (SWAP) WITH A MASS OF AROUND 6 GRAMS AND A VOLUME OF 3.1 CM3 (FULLY PACKAGED AND WITH DRIVE ELECTRONICS) AT A COST OF $500 PER AXIS IN VOLUME PRODUCTION. THIS WOULD BE 1/200TH OF THE SIZE AND 1/40TH OF THE PRICE OF THE CURRENT STATE OF THE ART. IN PHASE I, THE FEASIBILITY OF ACHIEVING A 0.001 DEGREE CELSIUS TEMPERATURE STABILITY WILL BE INVESTIGATED USING THE OVEN CONTROL FEATURE OF THE ERP. THIS LEVEL OF TEMPERATURE CONTROL WILL MITIGATE THE SENSOR'S LONG TERM DRIFT (BIAS DRIFT). IN PHASE II THROUGH SOME SMALL CHANGES IN THE GYROSCOPE LAYOUT AND OPTIMIZATIONS IN THE CONTROL ELECTRONICS, A GYROSCOPE SYSTEM WILL BE FABRICATE WHICH IS OPTIMIZED FOR POINTING APPLICATIONS. THESE OPTIMIZED RESONANT GYROSCOPES WILL BE INTEGRATED INTO THE ERP PACKAGE WITH ITS IMPROVED OVEN CONTROL CAPABILITY. THE GOAL WILL BE TO TRANSITION INTO PREPRODUCTION RUNS AFTER PHASE II.