IG-500 performance increase

SBG Systems is proud to introduce a new hardware version for IG-500A and IG-500N devices. The IG-500A is a miniature AHRS (Attitude and Heading Reference System) that computes, on board, a drift free 3D orientation. The IG-500N is a GPS enhanced AHRS that outputs a 3D orientation, velocity and position at 100 Hz. Thanks to new inertial sensors and a lot of hardware and software refinements, these two products deliver even better results over a wider temperature range (-40°C to 85°C).

Hardware improvements

SBG Systems is always looking for new technologies to increase its products performance. One of the most important hardware changes for IG-500A and IG-500N devices is a new miniature MEMS gyroscope that greatly improves overall measurements accuracy.

Gyroscopes

All gyroscopes suffer from gain error and bias drift, which is the output when the rotational speed is zero. The new IG-500 uses gyroscopes that have a better bias and scale factor stability over time and temperature.

Thanks to an advanced calibration procedure, the gyroscope bias is less than 1°/s in sever temperature conditions. The in-run bias stability is even better, less than 0.1°/s which is amazing for such a miniature and low-cost MEMS Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU).

The linearity and scale factor are also twice better. The calculated attitude can thus rely more on the gyroscopes providing a more accurate 3D orientation measurement in dynamics conditions.

Accelerometers

The IG-500N is using a triaxial accelerometer to compute a 3D position by double integrating the measured accelerations. Only a slight error in acceleration readings induces a large error in the calculated 3D position.

In order to improve the calculated 3D orientation, velocity and position, we have increased accelerometers performance by reducing the noise level by a factor of 1.6 and by refining the calibration procedure over the whole temperature range -40°C to 85°C.

Sensors options

Each application has its own dynamic model and it’s interesting to choose the best sensor range for a specific application.

With this new hardware revision, SBG Systems has introduced options on gyroscopes measurement range in order to be as close as possible to our customers needs. You can find in the table below, the list of available gyroscopes and accelerometers options and which options are generally used for a specific application.

Bold indicates default sensors options

Redesigned power supply

Our products are widely used in industrial applications and are designed to operate in harsh environments. The power supply has been redesigned to allow a wider input voltage range from 3.3 Volts up to 30 Volts with a better efficiency and especially for high input voltage. In addition, this new power supply supports higher temperature operations up to 85°C.

Self-test

An Attitude and Heading Reference System is a critical and sensitive component in an application. Our customers should be able to know if the device is working properly or not before relying on it.

For this purpose, our IG-500 products now feature a Self-test for all inertial sensors. At startup, the device checks each sensor individually and updates the corresponding flags to warn the user if an error has been detected.

Extended temperature range

In our goal to completely satisfy our customers, we have decided to increase significatively the specified temperature range. Thanks to a rethought calibration procedure and an updated hardware with new high performance MEMS sensors, all our products are now calibrated from -40°C to 85°C with no additional cost for our customers!

Firmware enhancements

The new IG-500 version is shipped with an optimized firmware that supports the last hardware revision and improves measurements accuracies.

More accurate UTC referenced output

The IG-500N includes a GPS receiver that can be used to reference all data to an absolute UTC time with an accuracy better than 1µs. This feature is essential for data synchronization between different systems.

Improved sensors sampling

Due to hardware changes, the new IG-500 is able to sample its sensors up to 10 times faster than before reducing aliasing effects in vibrating environment or in disturbed magnetic field. The new hardware is capable of measuring accelerations or angular velocities at up to 5Khz without any aliasing effect.

Reduced altimeter noise

In order to smooth GPS altitude, the IG-500N can use an embedded pressure sensor. We have done a lot of work to reduce the noise level in pressure readings. Now, it’s possible to detect altitude changes less than 50 centimeters and the peak-to-peak noise is less than 1 meter.