Multiplexed fiberoptic gyro control

摘要

Apparatus and methods are disclosed for the time division multiplexing of fiberoptic gyros to reduce the amount of control electronics required. Each of a plurality of gyros is sampled at a rate of n tau , where tau is the gyro optical transit time and n is an integer. The sampled signal is fed to a digital signal processor (DSP) for processing and used to form a rate feedback signal. The rate feedback signal is converted to analog form to drive the phase modulator drive of each gyro. In preferred embodiments the multiplexed sample rate is at least ten times the bandwidth of the gyros. The rate data can be filtered and output by the DSP and the DSP can integrate the rate data to give angle data. The use of precision analog circuits is avoided.