Magnetically Levitating Inertial Force Transducer

Objective

Autonomous vehicles rely on GPS-based navigation, but in GPS-denied environments like tunnels, dense urban areas, and parking garages, they need high-precision accelerometers to stay on course. While current MEMS accelerometers provide a potential solution, they lack the necessary sensitivity, and their high-end alternatives are too expensive for mass production. To address this, I propose a magnetically levitating accelerometer that leverages magnetic force to keep the proof mass in a highly sensitive floating state. This approach enables high-resolution motion detection while reducing power consumption and fabrication expenses. MAGLIFT will convert acceleration and position changes into electrical signals via a PCB-based sensing system, offering a compact, low-cost alternative to the state-of-the-art accelerometers. Building on insights from the ERC Consolidator Grant NCANTO (101125458), which focuses on taming mechanical noise in nanomechanical systems, I realized that our state-of-the-art noise suppression and nonlinear dynamic optimization solutions can significantly enhance the performance of magnetically levitating mechanical objects. By integrating NCANTO’s dynamic range improvement and advanced noise reduction techniques, I aim to develop an accelerometer with record-breaking performance, ensuring precise, reliable navigation for autonomous vehicles. MAGLIFT will further evaluate market potential of this technology and benchmark it against existing solutions to determine the optimal strategy for market entry.