M&NEMS near Nav-Grade Gyroscope for North-Finding Applications

North-finding based on magnetometers is often unreliable in environments affected by ferromagnetic materials or electromagnetic interference. Consequently, high-performance north-finders typically rely on Fiber Optic Gyros (FOG), Ring Laser Gyros (RLG) or Hemispherical Resonator Gyroscope (HRG), which provide excellent accuracy but are bulky and costly, limiting their adoption in compact and high-volume applications. This work presents a novel north-finder based on a near Nav-grade M&NEMS gyroscope, demonstrating accurate gyrocompassing using this technology for the first time. The system employs a 4-position maytagging technique, integrating a 1.3 mm2 Z-axis M&NEMS gyroscope, its analog ASIC, a 24-bit ADC, and FPGA-based processing on a custom-designed rotating platform. Experimental results show that an azimuth accuracy of 0.55° (σ value) is achieved within two minutes of acquisition, demonstrating that M&NEMS gyroscopes are suitable for practical north-finding in compact and low-cost systems.