A vibrating structure gyroscope is a type of
gyroscope that functions much like the halteres
of insects. Miniaturized devices on this principle
can be used as a relatively inexpensive type of
Attitude indicator.
The physical principle is very simple: a vibrating
object tends to keep vibrating in the same plane
as its support is rotated. It is therefore much
simpler and cheaper than is a conventional rotating
gyroscope of similar accuracy.
In the engineering literature, this type of device
is also known as a Coriolis vibratory gyro because
as the plane of oscillation is rotated, the response
detected by the transducer results from the coriolis
term in its equations of motion.
