Calibration of vibratory gyroscope

1. Method of calibrating at least three gyroscopes to be calibrated in a gyroscopic system comprising at least four vibratory gyroscopes capable of changing vibration position among a plurality of vibration positions;

a first measurement being provided by each of said at least three gyroscopes to be calibrated and a second measurement being provided by a combination of the respective measurements from the other gyroscopes of said system, said first and second measurements being carried out along the same measurement axis;

said calibration method comprising the following steps, for each of the at least three gyroscopes to be calibrated which vibrates in one of the vibration positions:

/1/ determining a measurement drift value between said first measurement and said second measurement;

/2/ commanding the change in vibration position of the gyroscope to be calibrated to another vibration position of said plurality of vibration positions and iterating step /1/;

/3/ iterating step /2/K times, K being a positive integer; and

/4/ generating a drift model as a function of the vibration position of the gyroscope to be calibrated on the basis of the drift values obtained in the iterations of step /1/;

wherein the at least three gyroscopes to be calibrated are calibrated by generation of a drift model by applying step /1/ to each of the gyroscopes successively, then step /2/ to each of the gyroscopes successively, then step /3/ to each of the gyroscopes successively and finally step /4/ to each of the gyroscopes successively.

2. Calibration method according to claim 1 , wherein, the gyroscopic system comprising four vibratory gyroscopes, three vibratory gyroscopes are arranged along three orthogonal axes respectively and the fourth vibratory gyroscope is arranged along the trisectrix of said three orthogonal axes.

3. Calibration method according to claim 1 , wherein, after step /4/, the measurements provided by the vibratory gyroscope, for which a drift model has been generated in step /4/, are corrected on the basis of said drift model.

4. Calibration method according to claim 1 , wherein a specific drift value is obtained by also carrying out step /1/ over a period of time corresponding to the change in vibration position of the gyroscope to be calibrated, said specific drift value being used in order to calibrate a scale factor of the gyroscope to be calibrated.

5. Calibration method according to claim 1 , wherein, the gyroscopic system providing navigation information on the basis of respective measurements from a set of at least three determined vibratory gyroscopes, during the implementation of steps /1/ to /4/ on a gyroscope to be calibrated among said set, the measurement from the gyroscope to be calibrated, on the basis of which the navigation information is provided, is replaced by a measurement along the same measurement axis as said gyroscope to be calibrated, obtained by combining the respective measurements from the other two vibratory gyroscopes of said set and from at least one fourth vibratory gyroscope.

6. Calibration method according to claim 1 , wherein, the gyroscopic system providing navigation information on the basis of respective measurements from a set of at least three specific vibratory gyroscopes, during the implementation of steps /1/ to /4/on a gyroscope to be calibrated among said set, the measurement from the gyroscope to be calibrated, on the basis of which the navigation information is provided, is corrected on the basis of a combination of the measurements provided by the gyroscopes of said system other than the gyroscope to be calibrated.

7. Calibration method according to claim 1 , wherein the drift model as a function of the vibration positions is obtained by one of a means of determination among an interpolation of the drift values obtained in the iterations of step /1/, a harmonic analysis of the drift values obtained in the iterations of step /1/ and a polynomial analysis of the drift values obtained in the iterations of step /1/.

8. Calibration method according to claim 1 , wherein the measurement values relate to one measurement among a set of measurements comprising an angle measurement and an angular rate measurement.

9. Gyroscopic system comprising at least four vibratory gyroscopes capable of changing vibration position among a plurality of vibration positions; a first measurement being provided by one of at least three gyroscopes to be calibrated and a second measurement being provided by a combination of the respective measurements from the other gyroscopes of said system, said first and second measurements being carried out along the same measurement axis; said gyroscopic system comprising, in order to calibrate the gyroscope to be calibrated:

a determination unit capable of determining a measurement drift value between said first measurement and said second measurement;

a command unit capable of commanding the change in vibration position of the gyroscope to be calibrated to another vibration position of said plurality of vibration positions and requiring the determination of a drift value by the determination unit; and

a generation unit capable of generating a drift model as a function of the vibration position of the gyroscope to be calibrated on the basis of the drift values provided by the determination unit;

wherein the at least three gyroscopes to be calibrated are calibrated by generation of a drift model by applying said determination unit to each of the gyroscopes successively, then said command unit K times, K being a positive integer to each of the gyroscopes successively, then said generation unit to each of the gyroscopes successively.

10. Gyroscopic system according to claim 9 , comprising four vibratory gyroscopes, wherein three vibratory gyroscopes are arranged respectively along three orthogonal axes and the fourth vibratory gyroscope is arranged along the trisectrix of said three orthogonal axes.

11. Gyroscopic system according to claim 9 , wherein measurements provided by a vibratory gyroscope, for which a drift model has been generated by the generation unit, are corrected on the basis of said drift model.

12. Gyroscopic system according to claim 9 , providing navigation information on the basis of respective measurements from a set of at least three specific vibratory gyroscopes, wherein the measurement from the gyroscope to be calibrated, on the basis of which the navigation information is provided, is replaced by a measurement along the same measurement axis as said gyroscope to be calibrated, obtained by combining the respective measurements from the other two vibratory gyroscopes in said set and from at least one fourth vibratory gyroscope.

13. Gyroscopic system according to claim 9 , providing navigation information on the basis of respective measurements from a set of at least three specific vibratory gyroscopes, wherein the measurement from the gyroscope to be calibrated, on the basis of which the navigation information is provided, is corrected on the basis of a combination of the measurements provided by the gyroscopes of said system other than the gyroscope to be calibrated.