The new-conceptual fiber-optic gyroscope

TLDR: In this paper, a new conceptual fiber-optic gyroscope is introduced, which employs the optical frequency-modulated continuous-wave (FMCW) interference, and the differential fiberoptic irregularity.

Abstract: A new-conceptual fiber-optic gyroscope is introduced. The gyroscope employs the two newly-emerged novel technologies: the optical frequency-modulated continuous-wave (FMCW) interference, and the differential fiber-optic gyroscope, and therefore, it can overcome the problems in the traditional fiber-optic gyroscopes, such as temperature drift and poor long-term stability. The FMCW interference, which was originally investigated in radar technology, has been successfully used to construct various fiber-optic interferometers and sensors. The advantages of this technology include accurate calibration of the phase, simple count of fringes, and easy signal processing. The interest in the application of the FMCW technique to rotation sensing has been growing for a long period. The problem in the FMCW fiber-optic gyroscope is that the gyroscope must be an unbalanced, and the initial optical path difference in the gyroscope will cause an unexpected non-reciprocal phase drift if the environmental conditions are unstable. This paper reports a differential FMCW fiber-optic gyroscope. The advantages of this fiber-optic gyroscope include: (1) Due to the nature of the differential interferometer structure, the unexpected non-reciprocal phase drift is automatically removed, and the calibration fact of the gyroscope is automatically doubled. (2) Benefited from the FMCW technology, this gyroscope has no zero-sensitivity point problem, and it has a higher resolution and a larger dynamic range.