First production orders and extensive customer trials for new IMU

In the year since the launch of Silicon Sensing Systems’ new DMU41 9 degrees of freedom (DoF) inertial measurement unit (IMU) the company has signed two major production orders and several smaller orders worth multi $million and has sent units for trial in areas as diverse as marine navigation, rail track surveying, aircraft stabilization and satellite low earth orbit.

Steve Capers, General Manager of Silicon Sensing comments: “Throughout this year we have seen high level of sustained interest in our new, true tactical grade IMU.  We developed DMU41 with the advice and involvement of our customers so we were confident of the demand for a highly compact tactical grade IMU that would not be ITAR (International Traffic in Arms Regulations) controlled. One year on we have an ever-growing list of customers, with further units ready to be dispatched for trials in the coming months.”

DMU41 brings ultra-precise motion sensing to the latest generation of smaller, more space and power-limited platforms.  This all-silicon, micro electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) unit measures just 50x50x50mm, weighs only 200g, consumes significantly less power than its predecessor yet delivers performance that competes directly with much heavier, larger and more costly, fibre optic gyro (FOG) -based units. This includes class-leading bias instability for more accurate performance over time, excellent angle random walk and exceptional low noise characteristics.

Each DMU41 contains three inductive and three piezoelectric resonating ring gyroscopes with six capacitive accelerometers, all designed and manufactured by Silicon Sensing, along with a 3-axis magnetometer.  All inertial sensor data is blended to give optimal motion sensing information with DMU41 able to provide data at configurable variable output rates up to 2kHz. Outputs can combine angular rate, acceleration, delta angle and delta velocity, temperature and built-in test results - and every DMU41 is calibrated over the full operational temperature range to guarantee sustained, reliable performance.