Modeling of thermal sensitivity of a fiber optic gyroscope coil with practical quadrupole winding

Abstract

Thermally induced bias error is one of the main performance limits for the fiber optic gyroscopes (FOGs). We reviewed the thermal sensitivity of FOG in detail and created a simulation environment by the Finite Element Method (FEM). Thermal sensitivity analysis is based on Shupe and elastooptic effects. Elastooptical interactions are modeled by using the two different FEM simulations and homogenization-dehomogenization processes. FEM simulations are validated by comparing the results with a laboratory FOG setup. We report the changes in the error characteristics for practical quadruple winding patterns.