Development of Inertial Measurement Sensor Using Magnetic Levitation

An INS(Inertial Navigation System) is composed of a navigation computer and an IMU(Inertial Measurement Unit), and can be applied to estimate a vehicle's state. But the inertial sensors assembled in the IMU are too complicated and expensive to use for the general application purpose. In this study, a new concept of inertial sensor system using magnetic levitation is proposed. The proposed system is expected to replace one single-axis rate or position gyroscope, and one single-axis accelerometer concurrently with a relatively simple structure. A simulation of the proposed system is given to describe the capability of this new concept.