Another advantage of the design is its inherent immunity to acceleration induced rate error, or ‘g-sensitivity’.Īctuators/transducers are attached to the upper surface of the silicon ring perimeter and are electrically connected to bond pads on silicon via tracks on the spokes.
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These features contribute significantly to VSG’s benchmark bias and scale factor stability over temperature and vibration and shock immunity. The bulk silicon etch process and unique patented ring design enable close tolerance geometrical properties for precise balance and thermal stability and, unlike other MEMS gyros, there are no small gaps to create problems of interference and stiction. The annular ring is supported in free-space by eight pairs of ‘dog-leg’ shaped, symmetrical spokes. MEMS VSG gyros - a short description of their basic construction and operationĪll Silicon Sensing’s MEMS VSG gyros use a vibrating or resonating ring fabricated using a DRIE (Deep Reactive Ion Etch) bulk silicon process. Silicon Sensing was one of the first companies to commercially exploit the potential for solid state gyroscopes back in the 1980s, with the launch of VSG – Vibrating Structure Gyroscope.Ĭlick here to see a complete timeline of Silicon Sensing’s pedigree of making gyros over the last 100 years. Over the last twenty years, the world of inertial sensors has turned on its head with the emergence of ’solid state’ non-rotating rate sensors, incorrectly called gyros. RLGs and FOGs are very accurate but are quite complex and so are relatively large and costly to manufacture. RLGs (Ring Laser Gyro) and FOGs (Fibre Optic Gyro) use the phase shift of light travelling in opposite directions around a fixed path length to detect angular velocity. Mechanical gyros, such as DTGs (Dynamically Tuned Gyros) are still around today where high precision is needed. Gyros were originally mechanical devices which used a spinning mass supported such that its position in inertial space remains fixed thus allowing rotation of its support structure to be measured. Gyros, and their useful application for stabilising things, first emerged at the start of the 20 th Century and Silicon Sensing’s family tree dates back to these pioneering years. PinPoint ®) up to FOG-grade high performance MEMS Gyro modules (eg CRH02 and CRS39). There are now three generations of MEMS VSG Inductive, Capacitive and PZT, allowing Silicon Sensing to produce a wide range of MEMS VSG gyros from low-cost, precision, chipscale sensors (e.g.
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To the best of our knowledge, almost all of these gyros are still operating satisfactorily after 20 years of continuous service, testament to the reliability of VSG.
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Silicon Sensing produced the first MEMS VSG in the late 1990s, since then well over 20,000,000 MEMS gyros have been delivered to thousands of satisfied customers. The basic construction and principles of operation are explained briefly below. Silicon Sensing’s MEMS gyros all use the same unique patented VSG resonating ring technology to sense rotation rate through a phenomenon known as coriolis. This separates gyros from any other means of measuring rotation, such as a tachometer or potentiometer. MEMS gyroscopes, or strictly speaking MEMS angular rate sensors, are used whenever rate of turn (°/s) sensing is required without a fixed point of reference.
![what is a gyroscope used for what is a gyroscope used for](https://image.shutterstock.com/image-vector/mobile-phone-gyroscope-technology-device-600w-277006310.jpg)