Ultra-Compact, High Performance Fiber-Optic Gyroscopes for Advanced Avionics

Next generation interceptors require lighter weight, smaller, more robust and lower cost Guidance, Navigation and Control (GNC) components that can withstand stressing launch conditions and severe radiation environments without compromising their performance. In particular, rate sensors for Inertial Measurement Units (IMUs) that can provide high-resolution Line of Sight (LOS) stabilization, more accurate inertial pointing and higher bandwidths needed to support planned early intercept avionics systems with much more compact and lightweight packages. IFOS, with a team having many years of pioneering experience in innovative Fiber-Optic Gyroscopes (FOGs), proposes to develop an advanced FOG based on lower wavelengths and much smaller components that will enable producing a higher performance sensor from a drastically reduced package size that would also afford high degree of robustness against the shock and vibration that accompany launch. IFOS will exploit innovative techniques including new fiber components, coil production methods, robust packaging and advanced signal processing techniques that would allow the substantial reductions in weight and volume of interest to MDA. Phase I will focus on the feasibility study of such advanced concept and demonstration of the critical components (coil and modulator) required for such implementation.