Low SWaP nuclear magnetic resonance gyroscope

Physical Sciences Inc. (PSI) in collaboration with the Northrop Grumman Corporation (NGC) proposes advancement of a nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) gyroscope as an inertial sensor for missile and hypervelocity projectile applications.In the NMR gyroscope, the quantum mechanical angular momentum spin in the nuclei of a xenon gas forms the sensing mechanism.Since this atomic vapor has no moving parts and is completely mechanically decoupled from the environment, the NMR gyroscope possesses a unique feature to accurately operate through the accelerations associated with launch, shocks, and vibrations on interceptor platforms.In addition, the NMR gyroscope provides highly accurate measurements under large inertial input from its precisely known scale factor.The NMR gyroscope has already achieved a 10 cm3 volume, but is limited in further miniaturization due to loss of xenon signal.PSI will advance the state of the art in size, weight, power, and cost (SWaP-c) of the NMR gyroscope to decrease the volume by a factor of 10 and the power by a factor of 2 without loss of performance.Approved for Public Release | 18-MDA-9710 (6 Jul 18)