A monolithic silicon gyroscope capable of sensing about three axes simultaneously

In recent years there have been many designs proposed for silicon microengineered gyroscopes. Early results bode well for the future fabrication of these devices in the volume requirement of the user, principally the automotive industry. These devices are expected to be economical favourable to manufacture when compared to other forms of rate sensor. Additional benefits of compactness, reliability and simplicity are all expected to weigh in favour of microengineering as the way forward to the mass manufacture of automotive gyroscopes. However, they may still not be economical enough for the industry. One reason for this is that in many applications a measure of rate of turn is often required about three orthogonal axes simultaneously-for instance the roll, pitch and yaw axes of a car. With present technology this will require three independent gyroscopes, hence tripling the cost. To date, no gyroscope able to measure three axes independently and simultaneously using any technology has been made, let alone via microengineering