Advanced, Low Cost, Integrated Avionics

A small form factor IMU with the performance capability to meet the requirements of advanced kill vehicle control and line of sight stabilization does not presently exist. The advanced strap down seekers being developed for programs such as MKV Carrier Vehicle, MKC Kill Vehicle and even THAAD potential future enhancements all require an IMU that can be mounted directly to the seeker camera detector platform. A small form factor IMU can be mounted in closer proximity to the seeker camera detector, which is typically an IR focal plane array. Having the IMU in a tightly coupled mount to the detector array allows for the best detector motion compensation due to being able to minimize any differences in motion between the detector and IMU. By producing the gyro component of the small form factor IMU using a resonant micro optic waveguide it is felt that Fiber Optical Gyro (FOG) level performance can eventually be achieved while reducing the volume and mass significantly from FOG solutions. This is primarily due to the resonant waveguide not requiring the lengthy optical path that FOGs must have to achieve the same level of performance.