High-Performance Nonlinear Compensator for Next-Generation Fiber Optic Gyroscopes

Fiber-optic gyroscopes (FOGs) are used as the fundamental building block for high-precision inertial and angular displacement sensors in applications ranging from missile and UAV to war-plane and satellite navigation. The nonlinearity-induced non-reciprocity in FOGs is recognized as the critical impairment limiting the obtainable sensing accuracy and precision. In effect, the entire three-decade-long development path of FOG is primarily Kerr-effect non-reciprocity mitigation, thus enabling improved precision navigation instrumentation in each subsequent generation of angular displacement sensors. We propose to develop the first true nonlinearity compensator in a robust, miniature-sized platform, fully compatible with the existing FOG technology. In this program, we will perform in-depth computational modeling, based on proven theoretical frameworks, that will be quantitatively validated and benchmarked by experiments in a state-of-the-art research facility. Successful completion of this program will result in calculation of the ultimate performance limitations of the proposed design, derivation of the engineering rules governing practical operation of the nonlinearity compensator, and a baseline design for a Phase II program.