> A P P L I C A T I O N
AIS/SSS claim progress too
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tlantic Inertial Sensors subsidiary for more FOG applications, at about notes they see demand for high
Silicon Sensing Systems also half the cost of the $2000-$2500 optical accuracy pointing and stabilization for
claims big recent strides. “We recently devices, and with a smaller size. AIS is antennas or cameras or guns on moving
made a step change in performance in already a signifi cant supplier of MEMS platforms.
our gyro,” says Eric Whitley, business for guided missiles and munitions, with There’s also interest from oil and gas
development at Silicon Sensing, for more than 20,000 total MEMS units in and mining companies for surveying
what he says is a 3x improvement, to use in guided artillery, naval missiles and locating down boreholes and in
3°/hr bias stability and 0.1° /√hr. “We and light anti tank weapons, including tunnels; from an assortment of users
changed the shape and thickness of the Excaliber smart artillery used by US for precision surveying, mapping, and
the ring, and the metal layers on top to forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. It reports georeferencing; and from construction
get a big improvement in noise and bias it had delivered 1000 IMUs with the and agricultural equipment suppliers
performance over temperature, so we new, higher performance gyros as of for use with GPS for precise sub-meter
can now quite easily match moderate September. The company also recently location and navigation for control of
FOG performance. It’s now capable of introduced a smaller IMU at 1 cubic grading, excavating, plowing, fertilizer
north seeking. MEMS couldn’t get there inch, ¼ size of the established product, application and the like. Only the very
before.” He argues that the company’s to meet demand for adding more highest value applications have been
ring or balanced shell resonating accurate guidance to smaller munitions. using FOG IMUs in these markets to
design, instead of a simple tuning fork Another application being explored is date, but the lower cost MEMS IMUs
or comb vibrating mass, is rather like putting an IMU inside a solder’s boot may extend the same precision to more
using an infi nite number of tuning forks for navigation and tracking during applications in the same areas. Still,
in a ring, allowing higher accuracy and operations. these do all remain small niches to date,
stability. And closed loop electronics The SSS joint venture markets the requiring some sort of scalable process
help make a tighter system. same basic gyro devices to the for economical production of low
AIS wraps its electronics around these automotive and commercial markets, volumes with particular performance.
upgraded gyros made by SSS, its joint where it’s also seeing growth. The “The trick for small markets is to have
venture with Sumitomo Precision company reports it shipped close to something that you can mass produce,
Products in Japan. The companies say 1.5M units into high performance non- but that you can tweak for better
this new generation of IMUs is suitable automotive markets last year. Whitley performance,” says Whitley.
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Gladiator pushes up performance scale too
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lso getting down to the 1° to 10°/hr with the biggest opportunities in
high-performance stability range to stabilization for things like aerial
challenge the low-end, open-loop, FOG imaging and antenna pointing, and in
Y
ole Développement SA.
IMU is Gladiator Technologies. The attitude heading reference systems for
4 ½ year-old company has moved aircraft. Demand is particularly growing
quickly up the performance scale from overseas, says Chamberlain, with
its initial MEMS offering with 45°/hr international sales accounting for 60% Copyrignts ©
drift, to a 30°/hr version in 2008 of the company’s revenues.
and now a version with 10°/hr in-run Chamberlain notes that silicon gyros
stability and 0.4° /√hr random angle didn’t made big strides for the first
walk in production, and a lower noise decade or so, but have lately made
LMRK30 IMU from Gladiator
(.005°/sec/√Hz) version to start stabilization or navigation to more major strides fast. He fi gures MEMS
shipping soon. applications. “MEMS size and cost is gyros can get down to about 1°/hour
Unlike most other high-end IMU enabling a host of new applications in-run stability, but jitter and noise
suppliers, Gladiator is fabless, and from motion monitoring in auto and may become too difficult to handle
targets primarily commercial, not yacht racing to attitude and heading below that.
military, markets. It aims primarily to be reference systems in business jets,” Of course the competing FOG gyro
a high-performance system design argues CEO Mark Chamberlain, who technology isn’t standing still, but is
house, offering modular products with co-founded the Snoqualmie, continuing to get smaller and cheaper
a common messaging protocol and Washington, company with Sundstrand as well to target some of the same
connector interface that are and Honeywell MEMS veteran Rand markets. KVH Industries, for example,
customizable by the user for particular Hulsing, now CTO. He suggests there reports strong sales of its lower cost
applications. are several $100M niches in the high FOG in a cigarette package-sized
It’s also counting on the lower cost performance commercial IMU market, format, with similar bias of <1°/hr and
MEMS IMUs to bring precision for perhaps a $250M market overall, angle random walk of <0.1° /√hr.
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