Optical gyroscope
US5610714A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | May 16, 1996 |
| Grant date | Mar 11, 1997 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | May 16, 2016 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG01C19/72
- WIPO fieldMeasurement
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
An optical gyroscope includes an optical fibre ring or coil (2) around which light may propagate in clockwise and counter-clockwise directions, means (1, 3, 4, 5, 6) for inputting a beam of light in either direction into the coil (2), a phase modulator (7) for generating and applying a phase modulation at a modulation frequency between the clockwise and counter-clockwise beams, a detector (8) for detecting the combined clockwise and counter-clockwise beams and processing means for monitoring the intensity of the output of the detector means (8) at a plurality of integral multiples of the modulation frequency to determine the rate applied to the gyroscope. The processing means includes an analogue to digital converter (13) for receiving the detector analogue output on a single channel, a data accumulation device (20) for dividing the output from the converter (13) into a number of time samples and accumulating a succession of time samples over a number of cycles of the modulation frequency, means (15, 16) for synchronising modulation frequency to the analogue to digital converter sampling frequency and to the data accumulation device frequency, and a digital signal processor (21) fo…
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.