High Acceleration and Hypervelocity Inertial Measurement Unit

Gun-launched applications currently expose inertial measurement units (IMUs) to harsh acceleration, shock, and vibration environments. Furthermore, as they become smarter, they present tighter constraints on size, weight, power, and cost (SWaP-C), while still requiring high levels of performance. New accelerometer technology must reduce SWaP-C while operating through high-g shock and vibration environments that are significantly higher than current state of the art while not reducing sensitivity and resolution, as well as surviving through significantly higher levels of shock. MicroElectroMechanical System (MEMS) technology provides potential solutions to these challenges. However, the micro-scale features of MEMS accelerometers that enable SWaP-C benefits also tend to reduce performance capabilities. This proposed SBIR effort will develop a reduced SWaP-C MEMS IMU that will survive and operate under these shock conditions. The proposed Phase II effort will prototype a gun-hardened MEMS IMU for harsh environment applications, including the development of fabrication approaches. The Phase II effort will also characterize its performance under the anticipated environmental conditions.