GYROSCOPE STANDARD TORQUE-TO-BALANCE TEST.

The Standard Torque-to-Balance STB Test for rate-integrating gyroscopes is presented. It is the primary means of evaluating and comparing precision gyroscopes being tested at the Central Inertial Guidance Test Facility CIGTF. The principal feature of this test method is that data are taken from both clockwise and counter-clockwise table rotations in each of three gyro orientations with no shutdown of the gyro between orientations. The data from these three orientations are then combined to give one solution with no shutdown uncertainty for the drift coefficients in the assumed performance model and for the nonorthogonality of the gyro input axis to the table and earth rotation vectors. Variations of the standard test precedure are discussed as are fixed position tests. The data analysis procedure is a single least squares fit of the assumed performance model directly to the data. The magnitude, the standard error, and the statistical significance of each coefficient are determined from the fit. The operating and the shutdown instabilities of each coefficient are computed from the several determinations of each coefficient in an STB test. Snedecor F tests are used to compare the instabilities to the respective standard errors and to each other. Author