Heading sensor
First Claim
1. A heading sensor comprising a cube-like structure of non-magnetic material on each of three orthogonally related faces of which is located a respective Hall effect device, which cube and Hall effect devices constitute a three-axis magnetometer, and comprising a three-axis accelerometer, each of the three axes of the magnetometer being aligned with a respective one of the three axes of the accelerometer, the three-axis accelerometer comprising three etched semiconductor accelerometers, one for each of the three axes of the accelerometer, wherein the three-axis accelerometer comprises a three-axis module disposed in a recess in the cube-like structure, and wherein the three-axis module comprises a further cube-like structure on each of three orthogonally related faces of which is located a respective one of said three etched semiconductor accelerometers.
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Abstract
A solid-state heading sensor is comprised by a three-axis Hall effect magnetometer and a three-axis accelerometer. The magnetometer is comprised by a cube-like structure (10) of non-magnetic material on each of three orthogonally related faces of which is located a respective Hall effect device (11, 12, 13), for example of GaAs. The three-axis accelerometer may be comprised by a three-axis module (15) disposed in a recess in the cube-like structure, or by three separate accelerometer structures (23, 24, 25), for example planar etched silicon accelerometers, each disposed on a respective one of the orthogonally related faces adjacent the Hall effect device (20, 21, 22) thereon.
52 Citations
15 Claims
- 1. A heading sensor comprising a cube-like structure of non-magnetic material on each of three orthogonally related faces of which is located a respective Hall effect device, which cube and Hall effect devices constitute a three-axis magnetometer, and comprising a three-axis accelerometer, each of the three axes of the magnetometer being aligned with a respective one of the three axes of the accelerometer, the three-axis accelerometer comprising three etched semiconductor accelerometers, one for each of the three axes of the accelerometer, wherein the three-axis accelerometer comprises a three-axis module disposed in a recess in the cube-like structure, and wherein the three-axis module comprises a further cube-like structure on each of three orthogonally related faces of which is located a respective one of said three etched semiconductor accelerometers.
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5. A heading sensor comprising a cube-like structure of a non-magnetic material on each of three orthogonally related faces of which is located a respective Hall effect device, which cube and Hall effect devices constitute a three-axis magnetometer, and comprising a three-axis accelerometer, each of the three axes of the magnetometer being aligned with a respective one of the three axes of the accelerometer, the three-axis accelerometer comprising three etched semiconductor accelerometers, one for each of the three axes of the accelerometer, and wherein each of the three etched semiconductor accelerometers is located on a respective one of the three orthogonally related faces of the cube-like structure.
- 6. A heading sensor comprising a three-axis Hall effect magnetometer arranged to respond to magnetic flux in three mutually perpendicular axes for determining the relative direction of a magnetic field, a three-axis accelerometer arranged to respond to the direction of the Earth'"'"'s gravitational field along said three mutually perpendicular axes, and means for operatively interconnecting said magnetometer and said accelerometer to provide a heading output signal, wherein said magnetometer comprises three Hall effect devices each corresponding to one of said magnetometer axes, wherein said accelerometer comprises three semiconductor accelerometer devices, each corresponding to one of said axes, and wherein the interconnecting means connects said Hall effect devices and semiconductor devices electrically in series.
Specification