MEMS-Based North-Orienting System

The Army uses Unattended Ground Sensors (UGS) for the location and tracking of enemy soldiers and vehicles. The sensors can often determine range and relative bearing to the signal source, but without knowing its own orientation, these data cannot be converted to source geo location and ground track. There is therefore a need for a sensor to determine the UGS azimuth, roll, and pitch relative to an Earth referenced frame. Creare proposes to develop, build, and test a novel high performance MEMS gyro compass based on the most accurate MEMS rate gyroscopes currently available. The compass will provide azimuth, roll, and pitch with much better than 2 degree of accuracy in a ruggedized package capable of withstanding the harsh environment in the field. The sensor will be low-cost and consume little power.