Grant: Research Tools and Instruments - Category 1 (<$150,000)

This proposal is in line with the applicants' long-term objective to establish an Intelligent Motion Tracking (IMT) research facility at the Mechatronic Systems Engineering program at Simon Fraser University (SFU). Thus far, the applicants are engaged in eight research projects in this area, and the requested equipment is directly related to both applicants' Discovery Grant proposed research. Over the past decade the applicants have worked in various projects towards development of mechatronics based ""Smart Sensor Systems"" for motion tracking (navigation), utilizing Micro-Electro-Mechanical-Systems (MEMS) sensors. The key sensors used for this purpose are inertial measurement units (IMU) that can be used to sense the motion of an object they are attached to. Conventional MEMS IMUs include tri-axial accelerometer - to sense acceleration in three directions (x-y-z) - and tri-axial rate gyros - to detect angular rates in three directions (roll-pitch-yaw). The accelerometers and gyroscope sensors used in the IMU are susceptible to various errors caused by inherent sensor design inconsistencies and cross-axis errors caused by device-mounting imperfections. Most importantly, MEMS sensors are inherently susceptible to changes in temperature due to the small structures within their design. As a result, thermal calibration of the IMU is a necessary task by subjecting the IMU to known temperature cycles and acquiring the IMU output data throughout the duration of thermal cycling. In order to conduct this task and to conduct a credible research in the navigation field, access to a decent IMU calibration facility is vital for the applicants. All well-known research centers in this area boast of a credible calibration facility, while at SFU we have been struggling with this shortcoming so far. The proposed IMU calibration system comprises an integrated rate table -thermal chamber, and is essential for applicants to improve the performance of the accelerometers and gyroscopes through temperature drift error compensation, and without this unit, this task will not be possible.