Honeywell International Inc.

David O Fellows

Timothy J Callaghan

Christina Marie Schober

Ying Tan

A method for maintaining measurement accuracy of a ring laser gyroscope is disclosed. The method involves periodically measuring a path length control voltage in the ring laser gyroscope over a prescribed temperature range. When a first path length controlled by the path length control voltage deviates at least one wavelength from a nominal path length, the method detects the change in the path length as a mode shift. For each mode shift, the method applies a path length correction to maintain the first path length at a target path length over the prescribed temperature range. The method can apply a correction to a measurement signal output of the ring laser gyroscope by adjusting a calibrated scale factor depending on an actual integer number of wavelengths achieved during a mode shift.

Gyroscope mode shift detection and scale factor compensation

A method of stabilizing beam power in a ring LASER gyroscope (RKG) during high vibration is provided. The method comprises modifying an electrical signal output from an RLG photodetector to generate a direct current (DC) feedback signal, the DC levels of the feedback signal being proportional to RLG beam power. The method further comprises comparing the DC levels of the feedback signal to a DC reference signal, wherein the DC levels of the reference signal are proportional to a desired RLG beam power level. The method also comprises generating a difference signal representing a difference signal representing a difference between the DC levels of the reference signal and the feedback signal and adjusting RLG beam power based on the difference signal.

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Largo, FL, United States of America

David O Fellows