2000 - Draper Laboratory

Kaplesh KumarAnthony PetrovichTommy LeeMichael WattsRonald DennisHigh-Performance 18-GHz MicrowaveReadout Flexured Mass Accelerometer©1999 ION. Reprinted, with permission, from the Proceedings of the 55th Annual Meeting of the Institute of Navigation, June 28-30, 1999, Cambridge, MAA 10 8 dynamic-range flexured mass accelerometer usingmicrowave cavities and readout electronics operating at 18 GHzhas been shown to be capable of achieving 1-µg bias stabilitywith ±0.01˚C temperature control. Developments previouslyreported for the device operating at 10 GHz were implemented.The flexure cartridge, designed to eliminate anelastic and hystereticeffects during device static or tumble testing, was incorporatedinto the 18-GHz device. Two device configurations werefabricated and tested for resolution, drift stability, and tumblebias repeatability in a 1-g field. One was constructed entirely fromSuperinvar, save for the ceramic flexure cartridge, while the other,which also used a similar ceramic flexure cartridge, was of ahybrid construction employing Superinvar microwave cavities anda ceramic Zerodur housing. Two breadboard configurations oflow-noise 18-GHz electronics were designed, built, and tested successfullyto support these evaluations. The best results achievedincluded the following: resolution, 0.35 µg; drift stability with arigid insert substituted for the flexured proof mass,