Exclusion of Linear Acceleration Signal in the MEMS Thermal Gyroscope

This letter identifies the source of linear acceleration signal in the microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) thermal gyroscope and provides a real-time solution to exclude it. The main culprit of the undesired acceleration signal is found to be lack of rotational symmetry due to Manhattan sensor topology. A higher level of symmetry is obtained by constructing a hybrid gyroscope using two individual devices operating in tandem but 180° out-of-phase. A precision rotary stage is used to test the duo. The experiments confirmed that higher symmetry is promising in excluding the acceleration signal. Compared with a single device, the hybrid gyroscope demonstrated 16-fold reduction in the acceleration signal and 5-fold improved acceleration to rotation sensitivities.