Hrl Laboratories, LLC

The Boeing Company

Raytheon Company

The Boeing Corporation

Raytehon Company

David T Chang

Randall Lynn Kubena

Hung P Nguyen

Raviv Perahia

Logan D Sorenson

Deborah J Kirby

Lian X Huang

Frederic P Stratton

Tsung-Yuan Hsu

Matthew J Pelliccione

Richard J Joyce

Pamela R Patterson

Shuoqin Wang

Jinsoo Kim

James H Schaffner

Adele E Schmitz

Adour Vahe Kabakian

David L Walter

Joshua A Erbland

Ping Liu

Miroslav Micovic

Keisuke Shinohara

Biqin Huang

Andrea Corrion

Terence J De Lyon

Keerti S Kona

Dean C Regan

Ivan Milosavljevic

Peter J Willadsen

Edward H Chen

Colleen M Butler

Patrick J Webb

Hector L Bracamontes

Robert L Larson

Bruce T Holden

Jeffery J Puschell

Daniel J Gregoire

Robert Y Loo

David W Shahan

Metin S Mangir

Yook-Kong Yong

Michael Aidan Gritz

Jar Jueh Lee

Jeremy Bregman

Chia-Ming “Gavin” Chang

Srikanth S Iyer

Makena S White

Hung Nguyen

L X Coco Huang

Tracy J Boden

A sensor cluster is disclosed comprising a first plurality of side surfaces of a first N-hedron structure, and a second plurality of side surfaces of a second N-hedron structure. A first plurality of a first type of sensor are mounted on the first plurality of side surfaces, and a second plurality of a second type of sensor are mounted on the second plurality of side surfaces. N is greater than three and the first plurality of side surfaces are interleaved with the second plurality of side surfaces.

Double N-hedron sensor cluster

A corner bracket comprising a volume of matter having n pairs of parallel faces, where n is an integer larger than 2; each face of each pair of parallel faces comprising an opening; the openings in the faces of each pair of parallel faces being joined by a cylindrical recess having a longitudinal axis perpendicular to the faces joined by the cylindrical recess; the longitudinal axis of the cylindrical recesses being arranged such that the cylindrical recesses do not intersect each other. The number n can be 3 and the volume of matter can be a cube.

Modular inertial measurement unit and elements for making same

A CVG having a resonator with two degenerated modes each with a nodal direction and an antinodal direction, with drive electrodes arranged near the respective nodal directions of the resonator and sense electrodes arranged near the respective antinodal directions of the resonator.

Gyroscope sensors having nodal push-pull actuation and antinodal readout

A Coriolis vibratory gyroscope having a resonator with at least a first and a second n=2 vibratory modes of same resonance frequency in a resonator plane; first and second sensing circuits for generating first and second sense signals in response to a motion of the resonator along a major axis of the first and second vibratory modes; a first drive circuit for driving the resonator in the first vibratory mode with a first drive signal; a second drive circuit for simultaneously driving the resonator in the second vibratory mode with a second drive signal; wherein said first signal has a first frequency equal to a resonant frequency of said resonator in said first vibratory mode, and said second signal has the same frequency as the first signal, modulated in amplitude with a second frequency.

Frequency multiplexed operation of vibratory gyroscopes for continuous self-calibration

A CVG having first and second degenerate resonator modes with each a damping rate; drive circuits for causing the resonator to oscillate in the first and second modes in response to first and second drive signals; first and second sense circuits for generating first and second sense signals in response to the resonator oscillating in the first and second modes; a signal processing circuit having control loops for generating the first and second drive signals based on the first and second sense signals; and first and second damping feedback circuits for generating first and second damping feedback signals proportional to the first and second damping rates; an adding the damping feedback signals to the first and second drive signals.

Continuous online self-calibration for gyroscopes through modulation of damping axes

A resonator includes an anchor, an outer stiffener ring on an outer perimeter of the resonator, and a plurality of curved springs between the anchor and the outer stiffener ring.

High quality factor mems silicon flower-of-life vibratory gyroscope

An angular rate sensor. The sensor includes a Coriolis vibratory gyroscope (CVG) resonator, configured to oscillate in a first normal mode and in a second normal mode; a frequency reference configured to generate a reference signal; and a first phase control circuit. The first phase control circuit is configured to: measure a first phase difference between: a first phase target, and the difference between: a phase of an oscillation of the first normal mode and a phase of the reference signal. The first phase control circuit is further configured to apply a first phase correction signal to the CVG resonator, to reduce the first phase difference. A second phase control circuit is similarly configured to apply a second phase correction signal to the CVG resonator, to reduce a corresponding, second phase difference.

High stability angular sensor

A self-calibration method for an accelerometer having a proof mass separated by a gap from a drive electrode and a sense electrode includes initializing the accelerometer to resonate, applying a first bias voltage to the sense electrode and a second bias voltage to the drive electrode to obtain a first scale factor, measuring a first acceleration over a first time interval, swapping the first bias voltage on the sense electrode with the second bias voltage previously on the drive electrode and the second bias voltage on the drive electrode with the first bias voltage previously on the sense electrode so that a bias voltage on the sense electrode is set to the second bias voltage and a bias voltage on the drive electrode is set to the second bias voltage to obtain a second scale factor, measuring a second acceleration over a second time interval, and calculating a true acceleration.

Continuous online self-calibrating resonant FM microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) accelerometer

A method of making a SiC resonator includes forming a layer of an oxide material on a relatively thick wafer of SiC; bonding the layer of oxide material on the relatively thick wafer of SiC to a handle wafer having at least an oxide exterior surface, the resulting bond being substantially free of voids; planarizing the relatively thick wafer of SiC to a desired thickness; forming top and bottom electrodes on the wafer of SiC wafer to define a SiC wafer resonator portion; and forming a trench around the top and bottom electrodes, the tench completely penetrating the planarized wafer of SiC around a majority of a distance surrounding said top and bottom electrodes, except for one or more tether regions of the planarized wafer of SiC which remain physically coupled a remaining portion the SiC wafer resonator portion which defines a frame formed of the planarized wafer of SiC surrounding the SiC wafer resonator portion.

Method of fabricating a SiC resonator

An instrument package for use during the drilling a wellbore. The instrument package includes a plurality of instruments such as accelerometers, gyroscopes, and magnetometers; a computer is configured to determine the current position of the plurality of instruments from a set of measurements produced by the plurality of instruments; and wherein the plurality of instruments are mechanically isolated from a drill head assembly by one or more multi-degree of freedom vibration isolators. The computer preferably has at least two modes different analytical modes of analyzing the set of measurements produced by the plurality of instruments, including a continuous mode and a survey mode, the continuous mode being operational during times that active drilling is occurring and the survey mode being operational during times that the active drilling is not occurring.

Continuous trajectory calculation for directional drilling

A resonant accelerometer includes a proof mass, one or more springs connecting the proof mass to an anchor, and one or more capacitive transduction gaps providing a void or space between the movable proof mass and a corresponding fixed electrode, wherein the static displacement of the proof mass in response to acceleration applied to the anchor modifies the electrostatic stiffness imparted by one or more of the capacitive transduction gaps on the proof mass, resulting in a corresponding change in the resonance frequency of the resonant accelerometer.

Navigational grade resonant MicroElectroMechanical Systems (mems) accelerometer and method of operation

A sensor comprising a resonator structure arranged for resonating along a first plane; and at least one sensing electrode arranged on a second plane parallel to said first plane at a predetermined distance of said resonator structure along a direction normal to said first plane.

Disk resonator gyroscope with out-of-plane electrodes

A sensing array includes a plurality of pixels, one pixel of which includes: a sensor, the sensor including a first electrode, a second electrode, and an atomic defect site configured to be excited by light of a first frequency; a light source below the sensor and configured to emit light of the first frequency toward the defect site; and a radio frequency (RF) source below the sensor and configured to provide a first voltage to the first electrode, a second voltage to the second electrode, and an RF signal to the sensor, wherein the sensor is configured to sense a magnitude of a physical parameter by generating a photocurrent corresponding to a magnitude of a physical parameter and a differential between the first and second voltages, when excited by the light of the first frequency and affected by the RF signal.

On-chip excitation and readout architecture for high-density magnetic sensing arrays based on quantum defects

A resonant structure comprising at least two coaxial rings, wherein adjacent coaxial rings have adjacent peripheries and are attached together by a plurality of connection structures regularly arranged along said adjacent peripheries; and wherein a first ring has a first ring portion with a first radial thickness and a second ring, portion, in a vicinity of a first connection structure, with a second radial thickness smaller than said first radial thickness.

High quality factor MEMS silicon hinge and slot-cut resonator for a vibratory gyroscope

A device preferably for use in an inertial navigation system the device having a single IC wafer; a plurality of sensors bonded to bond regions on said single IC wafer, at least one of said bond regions including an opening therein in gaseous communication with a pressure chamber associated with at least one of the plurality of said sensors; and a plurality of caps encapsulating said plurality of sensors, at least one of said plurality of caps forming at least a portion of said pressure chamber. A method of making the device is also disclosed.

Method and apparatus for the monolithic encapsulation of a micro-scale inertial navigation sensor suite

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Calabasas, CA, United States of America

David T Chang