Parametric drive of a Micro Rate Integrating Gyroscope using discrete electrodes

This paper reports parametric drive of a micro Center Support Quadruple Mass Rate Integrating Gyroscope (CSQMRIG) using discrete electrodes. The CSQMRIG consists of four proof masses connected by beams and is supported by a single anchor in the center. To reduce the complexity for the design of parametric drive electrodes, discrete electrodes in X and Y axes are employed to achieve parametric pumping. An additional benefit of using discrete electrodes is that it provides a convenient means for compensating structural and electronic errors such as airgap non-uniformity and gain mismatch. A CSQMRIG prototype with a resonant frequency of 7.6 kHz and a Q-factor of ~16000 is used to verify the rate integrating control scheme base on parametric drive. The control algorithm is implemented on a DSP/FPGA platform. Tests under constant angular rate demonstrate the rate integrating operation and the angular gain tested is about 0.97.