Recent improvements in fiber optic gyros at Northrop Grumman Corporation

Abstract

Fiber optic gyros are a mature product and have been in production for nearly three decades. Over 200,000 have been delivered to customers. This paper will review the recent improvements that have been made to fiber optic gyros and the systems that use them at Northrop Grumman Corporation. These improvements reduce gyro noise, improve bias and scale factor errors, reduce cost, and improve reliability in inertial measurement units (IMUs), inertial navigation systems (INS), and marine navigation systems.