Advanced techniques for guidance and navigation require new concepts of operation as well as new methods of fabrication. Indeed, the development of new instruments using new concepts are becoming more dependent today on fabrication techniques than ever before.We propose to combine the benefits of magnetic bearing technology with the emerging "millimachining" technology to design batch processable wheels and gyroscopes. "Millimachining" is a novel fabrication technology that extends the use of planar micromachining towards the fabrication of much larger structures with dimensions up to a centimeter in width and a millimeter in thickness. The process is expected to retain the accuracy of lithography to enable high geometric precision and repeatability.In the gyroscope the benefit of the larger wheel is to increase the angular momentum, with a corresponding increase in gyro performance. The use of these new "millimachining" methods then can enhance the development of a wide range of practical navigational instruments for space applications such as small satellites, gyroscopes for pointing and tracking, and accelerometers for accurate thrust control.The expected benefits of millimachining design and fabrication are expected to develop a novel class of gyros and accelerometers with high reliability and low cost that may spawn new application areas which were precluded by their high cost. Some of these applications are navigation for personal automobiles, boats, and planes and stabilization for optical tables and portable instruments. The wheel itself can be used for miniature motors.
Keywords: Phase_I, NASA, Abstract, FY94
