Optical Gyros and their Application (RTO AG-339) 

Executive Summary 

This AGARDograph is written by experts from France, Germany, Russia and the United States. Only the radical change of the political and military situation within the last decade made it possible to have the subject Optical Gyros covered by scientists and engineers from East and West. Until this change, Optical Gyros and their research and development were mostly handled as top secret. The more it can be seen as a giant step forward that we have in our hands an unclassified and nevertheless in depth treatment of Optical Gyros from scientists from East and West. Optical Gyros replacing the fast rotating rotor gyros as sensors for angular displacement or angular rate opened new possibilities in applications as well as in production. Especially in the field of inertial navigation, Optical Gyros replaced the mechanical gyro. Using them in Strapdown Inertial Navigation Systems in combination with Satellite Navigation Systems, offers new systems for dual usage in military and civil applications. This volume can be divided into four main parts. The first one gives a detailed description of the laser and fiber optical gyro theory, the main sources of errors and the methods used to reduce their influence. The analysis of many types of modern laser gyros allowing various requirements to be met is presented in the second part. The reader can also find here some areas of practical applications of laser gyros. The third part is devoted to fiber optical gyros that have been developed recently. They are so successful both technologically and commercially that they are in great demand. The last part of the book considers special applications of optical gyros.

https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/ADA363917.pdf