Common design techniques for BEI GyroChip quartz rate sensors for both automotive and aerospace/defense markets

In the early 1990s, Systron Donner Inertial Division (SDID), a subsidiary of BEI Technologies, Inc., possessed a new solid-state rate gyroscope technology that had not yet matured or captured a significant market share. Even though some success had been achieved in defense missile applications, a strategy was clearly needed to further develop the technology and lay the foundation for future growth. The strategy search led to discovery of a leading edge automotive brake system application, which, in turn, led to a radical change in design and manufacturing approaches, as well as a dramatic increase in revenues. The resultant radical cost-reduction of quartz rate sensor (QRS) components has benefit for both the automotive and the aerospace and defense (A&D) applications. Commonality of design and design techniques is leveraging high-volume, low-cost automotive components into low-volume A&D products.