A rounded view of fibers

The use of optical fibers for aerospace gyroscope applications-notably inertial navigation and platform stabilization-is common now, but it was not always so.

Although the principles of specialty optical fibers was discovered in the 1920s, the development of the technology for gyroscopes has only somewhat recently gained momentum.

“It is only in the last 20 years that the technology has become practical,” said Chris Emslie, Managing Director of UK-based Fibercore, the company that commercialized the first “Bow Tie” polarization-maintaining fiber in 1983. “In the aerospace industry it is used across a broad spectrum of commercial and military aircraft, including the autostabilization systems of some helicopters. Because it is compact and g-insensitive, with rapid reaction and zero spin-up time, it is ideal for missiles and smart weapons.”