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Lecture

Capacitive Sensors: Gyroscope Principle

In course

EE-511: Sensors in medical instrumentation

Fundamental principles and methods used for physiological signal conditioning. Electrode, optical, resistive, capacitive, inductive, and piezoelectric sensor techniques used to detect and convert physiological information to electrical signals. Medical dev ...

Description

This lecture covers the principle of gyroscopes, focusing on the Coriolis force, capacitive force actuation mode, and differential capacitance sensing mode. It explains the operation of capacitive effect gyroscopes in MEMS technology.

Instructors (2)

Kamiar Aminian

Kamiar Aminian received the M.S. degree in electrical engineering in 1982, the Ph.D degree in biomedical engineering in 1989 and the Postgraduate degree on technical computing in 1993 from Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL). He was assistant professor (1994-1996) with Sharif University of Technology (Tehran). He joint EPFL in 1996 where he is currently Professor of medical instrumentation and the director of the Laboratory of Movement Analysis and Measurement in the Institute of Bioengineering of EPFL. His research interests include methodologies for human movement monitoring and analysis in real world conditions mainly based on wearable technologies and inertial sensors with emphasis on gait, physical activity and sport. His research aims to perform outcome evaluation in orthopaedics, to improve motor function and intervention programs in aging and patients with movement disorders and pain, and to identify metrics of performance in sport science. Kamiar Aminian is a member of the International Society of Posture and Gait Research, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, the European Society of Movement Analysis in Adults and Children, the Prevention of fall Network Europe, the Intentional Society of Biomechanics and the President of the 3D analysis of the human movement group. He is author or co-author of more than 450 scientific papers published in reviewed journals and presented at international conferences and holds 10 patents related to medical devices. Full CV ORCID

Anisoara Ionescu

Official source

Related concepts (24)

Vibrating structure gyroscope

A vibrating structure gyroscope, defined by the IEEE as a Coriolis vibratory gyroscope (CVG), is a gyroscope that uses a vibrating structure to determine the rate of rotation. A vibrating structure gyroscope functions much like the halteres of flies (insects in the order Diptera). The underlying physical principle is that a vibrating object tends to continue vibrating in the same plane even if its support rotates. The Coriolis effect causes the object to exert a force on its support, and by measuring this force the rate of rotation can be determined.

Coriolis force

In physics, the Coriolis force is an inertial or fictitious force that acts on objects in motion within a frame of reference that rotates with respect to an inertial frame. In a reference frame with clockwise rotation, the force acts to the left of the motion of the object. In one with anticlockwise (or counterclockwise) rotation, the force acts to the right. Deflection of an object due to the Coriolis force is called the Coriolis effect.

Gyroscope

A gyroscope (from Ancient Greek γῦρος gŷros, "round" and σκοπέω skopéō, "to look") is a device used for measuring or maintaining orientation and angular velocity. It is a spinning wheel or disc in which the axis of rotation (spin axis) is free to assume any orientation by itself. When rotating, the orientation of this axis is unaffected by tilting or rotation of the mounting, according to the conservation of angular momentum.

Ring laser gyroscope

A ring laser gyroscope (RLG) consists of a ring laser having two independent counter-propagating resonant modes over the same path; the difference in phase is used to detect rotation. It operates on the principle of the Sagnac effect which shifts the nulls of the internal standing wave pattern in response to angular rotation. Interference between the counter-propagating beams, observed externally, results in motion of the standing wave pattern, and thus indicates rotation.

Fictitious force

A fictitious force is a force that appears to act on a mass whose motion is described using a non-inertial frame of reference, such as a linearly accelerating or rotating reference frame. It is related to Newton's second law of motion, which treats forces for just one object. Passengers in a vehicle accelerating in the forward direction may perceive they are acted upon by a force moving them into the direction of the backrest of their seats for instance.

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