New chip for miniaturised gyroscopes
Gyroscopes manufactured with MEMS technology are packaged similarly to other integrated circuits and may provide either analogue or digital outputs. However, a MEMS gyroscope typically contains multiple integrated circuits. Within GYROWING (Highly integrated ultra-low-noise gyrometer solution for smart fixed-wing aircraft), researchers incorporated all required components into a single integrated circuit package. Unlike its multi-chip equivalent, a system-on-chip (SoC) offers advantages such as higher performance, lower power consumption, and smaller volume and weight. The project team developed an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) for a commercial MEMS gyroscope. This high-performance solution is based on an ultra-low noise analogue front-end with all required peripherals. One of the most important components in any analogue converter design is the analogue voltage reference. Integrating this system on an SoC helped compensate for errors introduced in the entire conversion process. Power management can become particularly complex when high-accuracy inertial navigation systems require high-voltage supplies. Researchers integrated the power management circuit on the SoC, thereby facilitating high-efficiency power conversion. In addition, integration of feedback compensation paths limited distortion (non-linear phenomena) of high-frequency signals. Decreasing the number of chips leads to a much cheaper development of aircraft inertial navigation systems using an SoC. Such systems are highly needed parts for drag reduction – a key target of the Smart Fixed Wing Aircraft (SFWA) programme.
Keywords
MEMS gyroscopes, system-on-chip, ASIC, inertial navigation systems
