Skew Symmetric Orthogonal Mount for MEMS Inertial Sensors

A large portion of the inertial MEMS research community is focused on reducing the cost and size of inertial MEMS devices and MEMS-based inertial measurement units (IMU's). Many of these efforts apply a chip-scale integration approach. However, this typeof integration results in performance compromises, which directly impact DoD systems and applications. Therefore, companies developing extremely high performance devices for demanding applications tend to create single-axis devices in a fabrication processthat can be optimized for that axis. However, this forces an IMU designer to create an accurate method of sensor mounting, alignment, and interconnect. This Phase I SBIR effort will develop and validate a design and fabrication concept for a skew-symmetricorthogonal mount with integrated conductors, and validate it with critical experimental activities. This mount will allow the integration of inertial MEMS and supporting electronics in an orthogonal orientation for inertial measurement units using standardassembly and integration processes. In turn, the mounted unit can then be assembled and aligned to structures available current and future IMU's and guidance systems. The MEMS mounting technologies developed in this effort have many potential inertial andnoninertial applications in DoD systems, as well as NASA, DOT, and commercial applications. DoD and NASA applications include missile and unmanned robot inertial measurement and guidance units, as well as complex optical microsystems for guidance andsensing functions. Commercial applications may include such items inertial units for virtual reality input devices, guidance systems for high-end radio controlled equipment, and inertial units for both sport and commercial aircraft.