Combined phase-readout and self-calibration of MEMS gyroscopes

This paper presents a gyroscope interface architecture that combines readout and self-calibration functions in a reconfigurable fashion. The phase readout and calibration operation relies on the phase shifts observed at the gyroscope outputs with respect to the applied excitations. The proposed electrostatic calibration obviates the use of any additional moving parts or calibration stage. The significance of this work is having shared interface electronics between the readout and calibration configurations, which inherently compensates for the sources of drift in the electronics, resulting in improved calibration accuracy. Experimental data is presented that supports the theoretical analysis of the proposed readout and self-calibration schemes.