Robustness analysis of accelerometry using an electrostatically suspended gyroscope

The electrostatically suspended gyroscope (ESG) is a two-axis inertial orientation sensor manufactured by Boeing and currently in use on US Navy submarines. The additional ability of the ESG to act as an accelerometer is well known, but extraction of precision acceleration measurements from an ESG has not been achieved. The major obstacles to precision accelerometry are the nonlinear dynamics of the ESG rotor and parametric variation of the ESG electronics. We derive a model for the ESG dynamics with an eye toward efficient representation of the uncertainties in the model. We represent the model uncertainties and nonlinearities in a framework amenable to /spl mu/-analysis and analyze ESG accelerometer precision using /spl mu/-analysis tools. Finally, we discuss the implementation of a digital ESG control architecture for use in ESG system identification and testing of suspension control and accelerometer algorithms.