IFOG Technology for Gyrocompass Applications

Eric L. Goldner, David M. Rozelle, Allan Brickstein, Amado Cordova, Ronald Michal, Ralph A. Patterson, James R. Steele, Joseph DeFato

ResearchPosted on rand.org 1995Published in: Proceedings of the 51st Annual Meeting of The Institute of Navigation, June 5-7, 1995, Antlers Doubletree Hotel, Colorado Springs, CO, p. 585-594

Interferometric fiber optic gyros (IFOGs) were fabricated and evaluated to demonstrate the feasibility of their use as rotation rate sensors within replacement gyrocompass systems. Bias repeatability of 0.008 deg/hr, input axis misalignment repeatability of 0.68 arcsec, scale factor repeatability of 4.5 ppm, and angle random walk of 0.0034 P deg/ hr were demonstrated. The measured gyro performance was included within system simulations to predict overall system performance for a series of gyrocompass scenarios. The results of the simulations showed that when mechanized with IFOGs similar to those tested, the performance specifications of the ANIWSN-U2A gyrocompass can be achieved without the need for a vertical axis turntable for periodic self-calibration. IFOGs were shown to be a strong candidate for the rotation rate sensors within upgrades and future Navy gyrocompass systems.

Read More

Topics

Document Details

  • Copyright: Institute of Navigation, Inc
  • Availability: Non-RAND
  • Year: 1995
  • Pages: 10
  • Document Number: EP-50339

Research conducted by

This publication is part of the RAND external publication series. Many RAND studies are published in peer-reviewed scholarly journals, as chapters in commercial books, or as documents published by other organizations.

RAND is a nonprofit institution that helps improve policy and decisionmaking through research and analysis. RAND's publications do not necessarily reflect the opinions of its research clients and sponsors.