Application

Difference Between Laser Gyro and Fiber Optic Gyro

Gyroscopes are generally divided into laser gyroscopes, fiber optic gyroscopes, micromechanical gyroscopes and piezoelectric gyroscopes, which are electronic and can be manufactured with GPS, reluctance chips and accelerometers to become inertial navigation control systems. This article will make a distinction between the first two kinds of gyroscopes:

Difference in working principle

The basic components of the laser gyro are neodymium lasers, total reflection mirrors, and half mirrors. Its working principle is that in the closed optical path, the two light beams transmitted in the clockwise direction and counterclockwise direction emitted by the same light source interfere with each other, and the frequency difference between the two directions is measured.

Fiber optic gyroscopes are gyroscope-based sensors based on modern physics principles. The fiber optic gyroscope measures the phase difference of the light in two directions. The gyroscope will lock the phase difference of the light in two directions through the Y wave guide device. Because it has no moving parts - a high-speed rotor, it is called a solid-state gyroscope. It will become the leading product in the future, with a wide range of development and application prospects.

Both are optical gyros and based on the Sagnac effect. The difference is that one propagates in the fiber and one propagates in the cavity. The fiber is low in cost, but is susceptible to variations in thermal expansion and contraction due to temperature changes and tension changes during winding. The laser gyro light propagates in the resonant cavity and is affected little by the outside, so the precision is high, but the resonant cavity is expensive.

Structural distinction

The ring path of the laser gyroscope is actually an optical oscillator, divided into triangular gyroscope and square gyroscope according to the shape of the optical cavity, the cavity structure has two kinds of components and integral, and the general triangular laser gyroscope is the most used.

Fiber optic gyroscope is a sensor based on a fiber coil. The light emitted by a laser diode travels in two directions along the optical fiber. Compared with traditional mechanical gyroscopes, fiber optic gyroscopes have the advantages of all-solid state, no rotating parts and friction parts, long life, large dynamic range, instantaneous start, simple structure, small size, and light weight. Compared with the laser gyroscope, the optical fiber gyroscope has no blocking problem, and it does not need to precision machine the optical path in the quartz block, and the cost is relatively low.

Application distinction

Laser gyroscope applications

Laser gyroscope is a high-end gyroscope product, currently mainly used in military aircraft, missiles, warships, civil aviation, ocean-going ships and rail transit fields, its replacement is fiber optic gyroscope and MEMS gyroscope. Due to the higher precision and better stability of laser gyroscopes, it is difficult to replace laser gyroscopes in high-end fields.

Fiber optic gyroscope applications

Nautical applications

With the development of fiber optic gyro technology and the improvement of commercialization level, fiber optic gyro has become a new member of Marine communication equipment, and has been applied in commercial and military ships and Marine equipment. The rotation axis of the fiber optic gyrocompass based on the strapdown inertial navigation system corresponds to the three axes of the ship's coordinate system. It can not only be used as a high-precision heading information source to realize automatic north finding and north pointing, but also obtain reliable data such as heading rotation rate, transverse and pitch Angle and heading rotation rate, further promoting the automated development of the ship. It ensures the maneuvering effect of the ship and the safety of navigation.

Civilian applications

In the civil field, it mainly focuses on the application of middle and low precision fiber optic gyroscope, the main applications are: automatic navigation, positioning and orientation of ground vehicles, vehicle control; Attitude control of agricultural aircraft, sowing and spraying pesticides; Locating tools and rescue tools for damaged power lines, pipelines and communication optical (electrical) cables during underground project maintenance; It is used for geodetic survey, mineral exploration and production, oil exploration, oil drilling guidance, tunnel construction and other positioning and path survey, and the use of fiber optic gyro rotation Angle and line displacement to achieve dam slope measurement.

Aerospace and space applications

High precision interferometric fiber optic gyroscopes are generally used in aerospace and space applications. IFOG is the strapdown inertial navigation system with the main inertial component, which can provide the aircraft with three-dimensional angular velocity, position, Angle of attack and side-slip Angle, realize the tracking and measurement of rocket launch, and can also be used for space vehicle stability, photography/mapping, attitude measurement control, motion compensation, EO/FLIR stability, navigation and flight control, etc. The combination of fiber optic gyro and GPS with high accuracy and reliability has become a typical configuration of spacecraft attitude determination system at home and abroad.

If you want to get more details about laser gyro, pls visit https://www.ericcointernational.com/gyroscope/laser-gyroscope

For more information, please feel free to contact info@ericcointernational.com

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