Gyroscope-Based Operation: Improved Way for Location Tracking

Gyroscopes help vehicles, drones and wearable electronic devices by measuring or maintaining the orientation and angular velocity. They are used to detect the deviation of an object. Gyroscopes are used since ancient times. For instance, the wheels of a bicycle act as gyroscopes as they spin up the speed and makes it easier to stay upright and harder to upset momentum. Gyroscopes play an important role in advanced navigation systems. 

 

Optical issues are handled with the help of gyroscopes as they help in location tracking. With the help of speech recognition software, gyroscopes can enable a phone call when the microphone is not available, acting as a complement to the microphone. Gyroscopes are essential in various industries such as aviation, defense, and robotics. Smart phones and tablets with accelerometer use gyroscope. Accelerometer and gyroscopes are essential components in determining the location of objects. These help many apps work in a smartphone. Location tracking could be useful in many ways. For instance, companies can use it to search for their customers. E-commerce companies also require location-related information for their business purposes. Besides, gyroscopes find their applications in automatic pilots on ships and aircraft. They also find applications in inertial guidance systems installed in space launch vehicles. Gyroscopes are also increasingly being used in the automobile industry as they can serve a various purpose like sensing the balance of vehicles. They can also be used with accelerometers in electronic stability control systems, for activation of airbags and others.

There are two kinds of Gyroscopes, namely Mechanical Gyroscopes and Optical gyroscopes. A mechanical gyroscope consists of a spinning mass around its center. Optical gyroscopes function by sensing the difference in propagation time between counter-propagating beams that travel in the opposite direction in the closed or open propagating path. There are no moving parts for optical gyroscopes; and hence, they find applications in orbital satellite, jetliners, and booster rockets.

Typical micro electromechanical sensors (MEMS) Gyroscopes are bigger in size than a golf ball, so these are not suitable for many portable applications. As the size of the optical gyroscope decreases, the movement detection capacity of the gyroscope also decreases, making the miniaturization of optical gyroscope difficult. Caltech engineers have developed a new gyroscope, which they say is 500 times smaller than the ones available in the market currently. It works on reciprocal sensitivity enhancement and is capable of detecting phase shifts that are 30 times smaller than those bigger devices. 

Gyroscope can be used either alone or can be used in more complex systems such as gyrocompass. Gyroscopes, which have been used since ancient times for the mere detection of objects, can now be used in different industries like automobile, smartphone, and e-commerce for location tracking purpose. With new advancements in Gyroscopes, such as the one developed by the Caltech engineers, the specific needs of several industries could be met in the near future.