Operational mode for axisymmetric coriolis vibrating gyroscopes

An axisymmetric Coriolis vibrating gyroscope, comprising:

• a resonator configured to vibrate in a standing wave;
• a plurality of control elements, configured to perform at least one of maintaining vibration in said resonator by applying respective forces to said resonator and sensing vibrations of said resonator around an axis of symmetry of said resonator;
• and
• a control circuitry associated with said plurality of control elements, configured to iteratively:
• control said control elements so as to maintain an angular direction of said vibration at a current setpoint;
• at a sampling time of a current iteration, determine an angular direction of said vibration of said resonator from respective readings of at least two of said control elements;
• calculate a total angular rate as a sum of a first angular rate determined from a force applied to said resonator by at least two of said control elements and a second angular rate determined from said angular direction of said vibration at said sampling time of said current iteration;
• and
• update said setpoint to an angular direction of said vibration determined in a previous iteration.

A method for operating an axisymmetric Coriolis vibrating gyroscope, said method comprising iteratively:

• controlling a force applied to a resonator so as to maintain an angular direction of a vibration of said resonator at a current setpoint;
• at a sampling time, determining an angular direction of said vibration of said resonator;
• calculating a total angular rate as a sum of a first angular rate determined from said force applied to said resonator and a second angular rate determined from said angular direction of said vibration at said sampling time of said current iteration;
• and
• updating said setpoint to an angular direction of said vibration determined in a previous iteration.