Tronics, Thales sign supply deal

CAMBRIDGE, UK: Tronics Microsystems and Thales have entered into a strategic supply deal in the area of navigation system. According to the strategic agreement, Tronics Microsystems will deliver high-performance, vacuum-packaged, inertial MEMS-sensing elements that are based on 2 design concepts which Thales has invented.

The announcement of the pact comes after Thales presented what it described as its “world-leading” technical achievements at the Symposium on Gyro Technology held in Karlsruhe, Germany, in September 2009.

According to a statement from Tronics Microsystems, of the two designs patented by Thales, one is for accelerometers and the other is for gyroscopes. These designs need advanced MEMS as well as and vacuum-packaging technologies – areas in which Tronics Microsystems claims it does very well.

The designs invented by Thales have applications in aircraft, satellites and such other platforms.

According to Norbert Herail, director of navigation systems activities at Thales, the company has demonstrated that the measurement provided by the gyro (the angular speed expressed in °/h) possesses intrinsic bias – that is, a “constant” error compared to the exact value.

One of the chief challenges in MEMS technology, Norbert Herail said at the Symposium on Gyro Technology held in Karlsruhe, Germany, is maintaining this error as stable as possible over time.

Herail also said at the symposium that Thales had achieved stability better than 8°/h in the full-temperature range, with parts produced by Tronics Microsystems.