Optimum length of fiber coil in space-borne interferometric fiber optic gyroscope

Abstract

The choice of fiber length in sensing coil is a key issue for interferometric fiber optic gyroscope (IFOG) design. Considering the influence of radiation-induced attenuation (RIA) in fiber, the performance of IFOG will not always improve with increasing fiber length. In order to select a reasonable fiber length, a mathematical model describing the evolution of IFOG's random walk coefficient (RWC) as a function of the fiber length was developed firstly. Then simulation on the behavior of RWC versus fiber length at different fiber's RIA was performed. The results indicate that there is an optimum length of fiber coil in space-borne IFOG at a certain RIA of coil fiber. The optimum length decreases with increasing RIA in fiber, and the corresponding RWC decreases with decreasing RIA. Thereby, a method to optimize the length of fiber coil in space-borne IFOG was proposed. © 2012 Springer-Verlag GmbH.