Inertial measurement units
AssigneeAtlantic Inertial Systems Limited
InventorsKevin Townsend, Michael Terence Durston
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method of manufacturing an inertial measurement unit (IMU) comprises fabricating a plurality of individual MEMS inertial sensor packages at a package level as sealed packages containing a MEMS inertial sensor chip and an integrated circuit electrically connected together. Fabricating the individual MEMS inertial sensor packages comprises forming mechanical interconnect features in each package and assembling the IMU by mechanically interconnecting each individual MEMS inertial sensor package with another individual MEMS inertial sensor package in a mutually orthogonal orientation.
Claims17
A method of manufacturing an inertial measurement unit (IMU) comprising:
- fabricating a plurality of individual MEMS inertial sensor packages at a package level as sealed packages containing a MEMS inertial sensor chip and an integrated circuit electrically connected together,
- wherein fabricating the individual MEMS inertial sensor packages comprises forming a set of mechanical interconnect features in each package such that each of the plurality of individual MEMS inertial packages is an entirely separate package comprising its own independent set of mechanical interconnect features;
- and
- assembling the IMU by mechanically interconnecting the at least one mechanical interconnect feature of the set of mechanical interconnect features of each of the plurality of individual MEMS inertial sensor packages with at least one mechanical interconnect feature of the independent set of mechanical interconnect features of another of the plurality of individual MEMS inertial sensor packages, wherein the mechanical interconnect features fix the orientation of the individual MEMS inertial sensor packages relative to one another so as to be mutually orthogonal;
- wherein any one of the plurality of individual MEMS inertial sensor packages can be individually replaced prior to assembling the IMU with a replacement individual MEMS inertial sensor package comprising its own independent set of mechanical interconnect features.
An inertial measurement unit (IMU) comprising:
- a plurality of individually fabricated MEMS inertial sensor packages;
- wherein each package is individually fabricated at a package level as a sealed package containing a MEMS inertial sensor chip and an integrated circuit electrically connected together;
- and
- wherein each individually fabricated MEMS inertial sensor package comprises a set of mechanical interconnect features, such that each of the plurality of individual MEMS inertial packages is an entirely separate package comprising its own independent set of mechanical interconnect features;
- wherein at least one mechanical interconnect feature of the set of mechanical interconnect features of each of the plurality of individual MEMS inertial sensor packages is mechanically interconnected with at least one mechanical interconnect feature of the independent set of mechanical interconnect features of another of the plurality of individual MEMS inertial sensor packages, wherein the mechanical interconnect features fix the orientation of the individual MEMS inertial sensor packages relative to one another so as to be mutually orthogonal.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.