Angular rate sensors are often used in combination with accelerometers. Both sensor types are based on inertial forces and they do not require direct contact with the surrounding. However, angular rate sensors are much more difficult to design and fabricate due to them using large ratios of vibration amplitudes which makes them very sensitive to various error sources. This is one reason why micromachined rate sensors ar not frequently found on the market, despite a large interest from the automotive and military industry. Nevertheless, vibrating angular rate sensors have a large potential for such applications. A general description of vibrating angular rate sensors and some design aspects is given below, together with a more detailed description of a quartz angular rate sensor. This quartz sensor is currently developed for mass-production in collaboration with a major European automotive industry.
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