Design of a novel MEMS gyroscope array

Abstract

This paper reports a novel four degree-of-freedom (DOF) MEMS vibratory gyroscope. A MEMS gyroscope array is then presented using the novel gyroscope unit. In the design of the proposed 4-DOF MEMS vibratory gyroscope, the elements of the drive-mode are set inside the whole gyroscope architecture, and the elements of sense-mode are set around the drive-mode, which thus makes it possible to combine several gyroscope units into a gyroscope array through sense-modes of all the units. The complete 2-DOF vibratory structure is utilized in both the drive-mode and sense-mode of the gyroscope unit, thereby providing the desired bandwidth and inherent robustness. The gyroscope array combines several gyroscope units by using the unique detection mass, which will increase the gain of sense-mode and improve the sensitivity of the system. The simulation results demonstrate that, compared to a single gyroscope unit, the gain of gyroscope array (n = 6) is increased by about 8 dB; a 3 dB bandwidth of 100 Hz in sense-mode and 190 Hz in drive-mode are also provided. The bandwidths of both modes are highly matched with each other, providing a bandwidth of 100 Hz for the entire system, thus illustrating that it could satisfy the requirements in practical applications. © 2013 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.