Calibration Method of MEMS Gyroscopes Using a Robot Manipulator

Inertial measurement units composed of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) gyroscopes are widely used sensors for small spacecraft and nanosatellite attitude estimation, control, and orientation. This is due to the fact that when developing nanosatellites, it is convenient to use devices of small dimensions and low energy consumption, which are advantages of MEMS sensors. However, one of the significant disadvantages of these measuring devices is their relatively low accuracy, which is related to systematic and random errors. For this reason, this article proposes a method for calibrating MEMS-based angular rate sensors using a robot manipulator for partial elimination of these errors. There are high-precision rotary calibration stands on the market that are designed to set angular rates and orientations when testing products of various types and accuracy classes. Similarly, a robot manipulator represents a possible option for performing this task. As a result, a modified six-position method as a sequence for performing laboratory calibration using a robot joint for high-precision rotation is proposed. The features of the results of processing experimental measurement data of tests have been validated on MEMS angular rate sensors. After calibration, the quality of MEMS gyroscope output data using this calibration approach was significantly improved.