Application of the vector modulation method to the north finder capability gyroscope as a directional sensor

This paper presents the application of the vector modulation method (VMM) to an open-loop interferometric fiber optic gyroscope, called the north finder capability gyroscope (NFCG), designed and assembled in TUBITAK UME (National Metrology Institute of Turkey). The method contains a secondary modulation/demodulation circuit with an AD630 chip, depending on the periodic variation of the orientation of the sensing coil sensitive surface vector with respect to geographic north at a laboratory latitude and collection of dc voltage at the secondary demodulation circuit output in the time domain. The resultant dc voltage proportional to the first-kind Bessel function based on Sagnac phase shift for the first order is obtained as a result of vector modulation together with the Earth's rotation. A new model function is developed and introduced to evaluate the angular errors of the NFCG with VMM in finding geographic north.