Design and Experimental analysis of temperature tests for Inertial Measurement Units in Avionic applications

Abstract

Inertial Measurement Units (IMUs) are today widespread in several contexts as Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), navigation and transportation, automotive and selfdriving vehicles, cellular phones, human motion, and robotics, to cite a few. In most cases, Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) are adopted for implementing IMUs, and these kinds of devices are often interested in extreme operating conditions when employed in aeronautical applications. Moreover, the measurement data collected by IMUs often feed algorithms involved in positioning systems and trim controlling strategies as well as for fault diagnosis purposes. As a consequence, it becomes essential to analyze the performance of such systems under all working conditions admissible by their nominal operating range.In this framework, the paper reports an experimental activity aimed at studying the effects of temperature variations on a very popular MEMS-based IMU for aircraft applications. In more detail, suitably designed and controlled temperature cycles (falling in the device under test nominal operating range) have been realized, and the achieved results have proved how the temperature excursions can significantly affect the measurements performed by all sensors involved (i.e., gyroscope, accelerometer, and magnetometer).