A Novel Micro Rate Sensor using a Surface-Acoustic-Wave (SAW) Delay-line Oscillator

A micro rate sensor (MRS) using a SAW oscillator is proposed for extremely high shock military applications. It is based on the SAW gyroscopic effect and consists of a pair of delay-line oscillators for a differential operating scheme. The SAW gyroscopic gain factor in ST-cut quartz not only is derived theoretically but also is verified by experiment. The 9times9 mm
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SAWMRS was fabricated and loaded into a specially designed LTCC (Low Temperature Co-fired Ceramic) package. We evaluated the performance of the SAWMRS, using a rate table, revealing a sensitivity of 0.431 Hz/deg/s in the angular rates up to 2,000 deg/s and a white noise of 0.55 deg/s/VHz, respectively. Consequently, the feasibility of the proposed SAWMRS was verified, through a set of performance evaluations, confirming the theoretical predictions.