Sliding mode control of a simulated MEMS gyroscope

The microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) are penetrating more and more into measurement and control problems because of their small size, low cost, and low power consumption. The vibrating gyroscope is one of those MEMS devices that will have a significant impact on the stability control systems in transportation industry. This paper studies the design and control of a vibrating gyroscope. The device has been constructed in a Pro-E environment and its model has been simulated in the finite-element domain in order to approximate its dynamic characteristics with a lumped model. A model reference adaptive feedback controller and the sliding mode controller have been considered to guarantee the stability of the device. It is shown that the sliding mode controller of the vibrating proof mass results in a better estimate of the unknown angular velocity than that of the model reference adaptive feedback controller. (c) 2006 ISA-The Instrumentation, Systems, and Automation Society.