Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
Gyroscope on a Chip Offers GPS-denied Workaround
Tiny sensor package offered as alternative to large fiber-optic gyros
Anello X3
Anello Photonics’ “gyroscope on a chip” X3 navigation package uses a silicon photonics optical gyro.

Anello Photonics claims to have market-ready technology that allows drones to navigate reliably in airspace where a reliable GPS signal is not available due to hostile blocking or spoofing. At the Farnborough International Airshow, the U.S. company is displaying its silicon photonics optical gyro (SiPhOG), built around a 2-mm-by-5-mm photonic chip and packaged in a housing about the size of a coin.

The tiny device is the basis for Anello’s X3 inertial measurement unit, now available for aviation applications. The “gyroscope on a chip” sensor package measures motion and orientation based on roll, pitch, and yaw.