Design and performance analysis of a nanogyroscope based on electrostatic actuation and capacitive sensing

In this paper, a vibrating beam gyroscope with high operational frequencies at mode-matched condition is proposed. The model comprises a micro-cantilever with attached tip mass operating in the flextural-flextural mode. The drive mode is actuated via the electrostatic force, and due to the angular rotation of the base about the longitudinal axis. The secondary sub-nanometric vibration is induced in the sense direction which causes a capacitive change in the sense electrodes. The coupled electro-mechanical equation of motion is derived using the extended Hamilton's principle, and it is solved by direct numerical integration method. The gyroscope performance is investigated through the simulation results, where the device dynamic response, rate sensitivity, resolution, bandwidth, dynamic range, g sensitivity and shock resistance are studied. The obtained results show that the proposed device may have better performance compared to commercial micro electromechanical gyroscope characteristics. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.