Overview
The GyroWing project was part of the global project “Smart Fixed Wing Aircraft” (SFWA), whose objectives addressed environmental issue (by increasing the performances of aircraft) and passenger comfort (in reducing noise level).
GyroWing represents an ASIC which aimed at integrating the overall electronic control required for achieving the most miniaturised gyrometer.
After a specification phase and the system modelling, the project enabled the realisation of this ASIC, including a high-resolution electronic part, and its characterisation after prototyping.
GyroWing aimed at providing high performances solutions, based on ultra-low noise analogue front-end, with all its required peripherals (such as HF carrier, compensation paths, voltage reference, regulators, high voltage features…) for enabling the most integrated solution. This resulted on a low volume, low weight and low bill of material final solution.
For achieving the highest TRL level for the ASIC, the project was based on the experience of participant on avionics and inertial measurement units, but also on industrialisation.
Funding
Results
Executive Summary:
The aim of this project was to develop a full ASIC with functionalities (low noise sensing path, high linear feedback DACs, high voltage compatibility, high noise resilience capability, providing its own clock signal, with auxiliary ADC, etc.) required to interface the MEMS Gyrix G-HP-10 provided by TAV.
An MPW opportunity on February-13 at TSMC's foundry has been taken on our own funds to obtain a prompt preliminary status of performances level of the main expected functions. Consequently, this first run has consisted in the architecture analysis to specify and develop the main internal functions of the ASIC (sensing paths, excitation and compensation feedback DACs, power management features). Once the design and fabrication phases achieved, the measurement in lab has highlighted some gap between measured performances and targeted specifications, resulting in a diagnostic analysis.
The status was that the major parts of the non-conformities of ASIC features were linked to test environment. Finally, the ASIC is almost all functional. The gap of performances between measurements and specifications were all analysed and fully understood. For that, after the end of the project (June 2014), some diagnostics have been led for mastering all remaining concerns and upgrade our methodology and knowledge. Dolphin has thus decided to move forward to this diagnostic and has added huge efforts to close the totality of the remaining symptoms. We thus finished to understand the root cause of several non-conformities such as low gain of the X sensing path relating to the specification or such as the calibration sequence of Trimming and Quadrature paths. In parallel of the diagnostic phase, the use of the current ASIC has been possible thanks to workarounds with discrete electronic components on the PCB, thus enabling the Topic Manager to perform system-level tests (sensor + ASIC) and take benefit of the ASIC at early stage.
Today, the confidence level reached on the correlation between measurements and simulations results allows us to positively close the project, with a full understanding on High Voltage features and a full mastering of the level of performance, with respect to targeted performances. The design workload to fix the non-conformities on performances has been completed.
Finally, the final ASIC has enabled to demonstrate the capability to achieve all targeted performances, which lead to a successful conclusion on the GyroWing project: the joint collaboration with the Topic Manager, supported by the CleanSky JU grants, has consequently to provide a state-of-the-art electronics interface for MEMS gyrometer.