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US 4,790,658 AGranted
Dither signal remover for a dithered ring laser angular rate sensor
AssigneeHoneywell Inc.
InventorWesley C. Sewell
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Readout signals of a dithered ring laser angular sensor are processed by a signal combining circuit which forms part of a closed-loop dither signal remover scheme. The output of the signal combining circuit is demodulated as a function of the dither applied to the ring laser sensor and subsequently utilized to control a correction signal. The signal combining circuit combines the readout signal and the correction signal to yield an output signal stripped of substantially any dither signal components.
Claims4
A dithered angular rate sensor comprising:
- means for generating counter-propagating waves along a closed-loop path, each of said waves having a frequency related to the rotation of said sensor;
- means for dithering the frequency of at least one of said waves;
- means coupled to said sensor for generating a first dither reference signal having phase and magnitude related to said dithering;
- first signal means, having means for receiving a phase control signal and said first dither reference signal, for producing a second dither reference signal shifted in phase relative to said first dither reference signal in response to said phase control signal;
- readout means responsive to said waves for producing at least one readout signal indicative of rotation of said sensor, said readout signal including a signal component do to said dithering;
- second signal means for combining said readout signal and at least one correction signal to produce at least one sensor output signal which is characteristic of the difference between said readout signal and said correction signal;
- and
- correction signal means including, converter means responsive to said second dither reference signal as a function of said second dither reference signal, said converter means having input means for receiving a converter control signal operative to affect the relationship between said second dither reference signal and said correction signal,
- control means responsive to any dither signal component in said sensor output signal for generating said converter control signal as a selected function of any dither signal component in said sensor output signal,
- third signal means responsive to said sensor output signal for providing said phase control signal as a selected function of any dither signal component in said sensor output signal, said phase control signal being operative to affect the phase of said second reference signal to alter the effective phase of said correction signal, and
- said converter means and said third signal means cooperating together to drive any dither signal component in said sensor output signal toward a minimum.
8 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.