GYROSCOPE MODE SHIFT DETECTION AND SCALE FACTOR COMPENSATION

摘要

A method for maintaining measurement accuracy of a ring laser gyroscope is disclosed. The method involves periodically measuring a path length control voltage in the ring laser gyroscope over a prescribed temperature range. When a first path length controlled by the path length control voltage deviates at least one wavelength from a nominal path length, the method detects the change in the path length as a mode shift. For each mode shift, the method applies a path length correction to maintain the first path length at a target path length over the prescribed temperature range. The method can apply a correction to a measurement signal output of the ring laser gyroscope by adjusting a calibrated scale factor depending on an actual integer number of wavelengths achieved during a mode shift.