A COMPACT SUBMERSIBLE TRACE CHEMICAL ANALYZER FOR TRACKING PLUMES OF CHEMICAL EXPLOSIVES WITH AUTONOMOUS UNDERWATER VEHICLES

This topic seeks a gun-hardened inertial navigator, suitable for guided munitions, made from low cost, commercially available instruments. After many years of waiting, and many failed starts, a Commercial Off The Shelf (COTS) 'Chip Gyro' is finallyemerging. Analog Devices is sampling to us integrated (all silicon) iMEMS angular rate sensor prototypes designed primarily for the high volume automotive market. We will show in Phase 1 through analysis, simulation and extensive shock testing that thesegyros can be combined with existing automotive grade silicon accelerometers and a single chip microcontroller to form a small, low cost IMU that will eventually occupy only 1 cu inch of volume. Performance will NOT be on par with current tactical gradeoptical and spinning wheel inertial instruments, but we will demonstrate their adequacy, with proper calibration, for dead reckoning ERGM and other guided munitions through the final stages of an engagement when the enemy is likely to locally jam the GPStiming signals.Everyone is excited about the eventual possibilities of MEMS. This project emphasizes the near term development of a low cost, low risk Inertial Measurement Unit based on COTS MEMS.