Abstract: Smiths Industries (SI) is developing a Fiber Optic Gyroscope (FOG) Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) for incorporation into the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) Technology Reinvestment Project (TRP) Fly-by-Light Advanced Systems Hardware (FLASH) laboratory demonstration. An optically interfaced FOG IMU satisfies the FLASH top-level flight control requirements for improved aircraft upgrade capability, reduced weight, enhanced EMI immunity, and improved system performance capabilities. The FLASH IMU design is leveraged from SI's Standard Compass/Attitude Heading Reference System (C/AHRS) Inertial Sensor Assembly (ISA) and attitude processing hardware and software. The ISA incorporates a triad of single-axis FOGs which use low cost, commercially available single mode fiber in the rate sensing coils and make maximum use of integrated optics to reduce cost and complexity. This sensor has demonstrated excellent tactical grade performance in a wide range of strenuous test environments. The dual rate 1773 fiber optic bus was selected by the FLASH team following a trade study which evaluated many factors including component availability and maturity, cost, speed, and applicability to flight control. The implementation of the bus components, as well as an overview of the overall IMU design, is presented.!3
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