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Completed TRL 6 (started at 3, targeting 6)
Develop tunable sensitivity fast-light gyros for enhanced precision inertial navigation.
The Fast Light Optical Gyroscopes for Precision Inertial Navigation (FLOG-PIN) project is a collaboration between Northwestern University, The U.S. Army, and NASA. The objectives of the project are to design, build, and test the first passive and active fast light optical gyros (FLOGs), progressing down in size from an optical table top, to a small optical breadboard, to a vacuum packaged mechanically-hardened version, with the ultimate goal to be able to detect rotation rates orders of magnitude smaller than current best technologies without increasing gyroscope size. NASA and the Army will collaborate on the passive FLOG or PFLOG, while Northwestern will focus on the active FLOG or AFLOG. The goal of the current task is to produce a portable version of the passive fast light optical gyroscope (PFLOG) for evaluation in a relevant environment. The entire PFLOG apparatus will be integrated on a small breadboard for rotation testing using a real physical rotation.
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