System having an extended life high performance sensor

1. A system comprising:

a high performance sensor to provide accurate measurements;

at least one dissimilar sensor, the at least one dissimilar sensor being of a different type of sensor than the high performance sensor while providing a same type of measurement as the high performance sensor, the at least one dissimilar sensor being less accurate than the high performance sensor and having a longer life expectancy than the high performance sensor; and

at least one controller in communication with the high performance sensor and the at least one dissimilar sensor, the at least one controller configured to start both the high performance sensor and the at least one dissimilar sensor at startup of the system, the at least one controller further configured to turn off the high performance sensor after a select period of time, the at least one controller further configured to output measurement data based on measurements of the high performance sensor while the high performance sensor is on and output the measurement data based on the at least one dissimilar sensor when the high performance sensor is off.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the high performance sensor has a life expectancy that is less than at least one of a life expectancy of the at least one dissimilar sensor and a mission of a vehicle implementing the high performance senor.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein in the high performance sensor is a ring laser gyroscope (RLG) and the measurements are rate/angle measurements.

4. The system of claim 3 , wherein the at least one controller is further configured to determine bias errors between the rate/angle measurements of the RLG and the rate/angle measurements of the at least one dissimilar sensor when the RLG is on and convert rate/angle measurements of the at least one dissimilar sensor using the determined bias errors when the RLG is turned off.

5. The system of claim 4 , further comprising:

at least one Kalman filter used by the at least one controller to determine the bias error, the at least one controller is configured to use an estimated solution from the Kalman filter when the RLG is turned off and use the estimated solution to calibrate outputs of the at least one dissimilar sensor.

6. The system of claim 5 , further comprising:

a memory to store calibration information based on the determined bias errors, the at least one controller in communication with the memory.

7. The system of claim 6 , wherein the at least one controller is further configured to turn on the RLG periodically to update calibration information.

8. The system of claim 1 , further comprising:

a clock, the at least one controller in communication with the clock to track how long the high performance sensor is on.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein the select period of time is the time needed to overcome run-to-run repeatability issues of the at least one dissimilar sensor.

10. A gyroscope system comprising:

a ring laser gyroscope (RLG) to provide rate/angle measurements;

a plurality of dissimilar sensors, each dissimilar sensor being of a different type of sensor than the RLG that also provides rate/angle measurements; and

at least one controller in communication with the RLG and the plurality dissimilar sensors, the at least one controller configured to start both the RLG and the plurality of dissimilar sensors at startup of the gyroscope system, the at least one controller further configured to turn off the RLG after a select period of time, the at least one controller further configured to output rate/angle measurements based on the RLG while the RLG is on and output rate/range data based on the plurality of dissimilar sensor when the RLG is turned off, the at least one controller is further configured to determine bias errors between an output of the RLG and the plurality of dissimilar sensors when the RLG is on and calibrate rate/angle measurements from the plurality of dissimilar sensors based on the determined bias errors when the RLG is turned off.

11. The gyroscope system of claim 10 , further comprising:

a memory to store calibration information based on the bias error determinations, the at least one controller in communication with the memory.

12. The gyroscope system of claim 10 , further comprising:

a clock, the at least one controller in communication with the clock, the at least one controller configure to track how long the RLG is on.

13. The gyroscope system of claim 10 , wherein the select period of time is the time needed to overcome run-to-run repeatability issues of the at least one dissimilar sensor.

14. The gyroscope system of claim 10 , wherein the RLG is a RLG triad and each dissimilar sensor is a dissimilar sensor triad.

15. A method of operating a gyroscope system, the method comprising:

turning on a ring laser gyroscope (RLG) and at least one dissimilar sensor, each dissimilar sensor being of a different type of sensor than the RLG that also provides rate/angle measurements;

using the rate/angle measurements of the RLG when the RLG is on;

determining bias errors associated with the rate/angle measurements of the at least one dissimilar sensor;

storing calibration information based on the bias errors in an memory;

turning off the RLG; and

calibrating the rate/angle measurements from the at least one dissimilar sensor based on the stored calibration information.

16. The method of claim 15 , further comprising:

applying a Kalman filter in determining the bias errors of the rate/angle measurements of the at least one dissimilar sensor.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein the Kalman filter uses rate/angle measurements from the RLG and the at least one dissimilar sensor in determining bias errors.

18. The method of claim 15 , wherein turning off the RLG further comprises:

turning off the RLG after a select time has passed needed to overcome run-to-run repeatability issues of the at least one dissimilar sensor.

19. The method of claim 15 , further comprising:

turning the RLG back on to update the calibration information.

20. The method of claim 15 , wherein the RLG is a RLG triad and the at least one dissimilar sensor is at least one dissimilar sensor triad.