MEMS IMU Solutions for Missile Defense Applications

IMUs in flight systems (interceptors, airborne platforms, and space assets) are constrained by limits on size, weight, power and cost (SWaP-C), and are also exposed to severe shock and vibration during storage, transport, launch, staging, deployment and engagement. This combination of requirements has proven difficult to meet using current inertial sensor technology.Inertial sensors and IMUs based on MEMs technologies have the potential to improve upon size and cost metrics for space-constrained applications. However, MEMS based IMUs have been known to experience performance degradation while operating through stressing shock and vibration environments. This Phase I effort will demonstrate, through simulation and experiment, chip-scale isolation approaches and robust resonant MEMS sensor architectures that can operate through these harsh shock and vibration environments. The Phase II effort would then continue development to realize prototype inertial units suitable for missile defense applications.