Anello Photonics Chip Brings Fiber-Optic Navigation to Silicon

What Happened

Anello Photonics has introduced the SiPhOG, a silicon photonics optical gyroscope chip that delivers fiber-optic gyroscope navigation performance in a compact silicon package, offering a GPS-independent alternative for navigation systems across multiple industries. The chip addresses longstanding limitations in inertial navigation, where engineers have historically faced a trade-off between the precision of large, expensive fiber-optic gyroscopes and the smaller but less accurate MEMS-based sensors used in consumer and commercial devices.

Background

Global navigation satellite systems, including GPS, are vulnerable to signal loss in environments such as tunnels, dense urban canyons, underwater, and in contested or jammed conditions. Inertial navigation systems, which track position and orientation through onboard sensors without relying on external signals, have long provided a backup or complement to satellite navigation. Fiber-optic gyroscopes are considered among the most accurate inertial sensors available, but their size, cost, and complexity have historically limited their use to aerospace, defense, and high-end industrial applications.

MEMS gyroscopes, which can be produced at scale on standard semiconductor manufacturing lines, are widely used in consumer electronics, drones, and automotive systems, but offer lower precision. The gap between these two categories has remained a persistent engineering challenge for applications that require both compact form factor and high navigation accuracy.

What the SiPhOG Does

The SiPhOG chip integrates the operating principle of a fiber-optic gyroscope, which uses the interference of light traveling in opposite directions around a coil to detect rotation, into a silicon photonics platform. Silicon photonics uses standard semiconductor fabrication processes to manufacture optical components on silicon wafers, enabling the production of photonic circuits at semiconductor scale and cost.

According to Design News, Anello Photonics states the chip achieves fiber-optic gyroscope-class performance while occupying a fraction of the physical space of traditional fiber-optic units. The company says the design is compatible with volume semiconductor manufacturing, which is intended to reduce per-unit cost compared to hand-assembled fiber-optic gyroscope systems.

The chip is described as targeting navigation applications in autonomous vehicles, drones, robotics, maritime systems, and defense platforms, all of which require reliable orientation and positioning data independent of satellite signal availability.

Technical Approach

Traditional fiber-optic gyroscopes achieve sensitivity by routing light through long coils of optical fiber, sometimes hundreds of meters in length, wound around a spool. The SiPhOG replaces the physical fiber coil with waveguides fabricated directly onto a silicon chip using photolithographic processes similar to those used in standard integrated circuit production. This approach eliminates the manual winding and assembly steps associated with conventional fiber-optic gyroscope manufacturing.

Anello Photonics has indicated that the silicon photonics approach also reduces susceptibility to vibration-induced noise compared to MEMS gyroscopes, a characteristic the company identifies as relevant for deployment on autonomous platforms operating in high-vibration environments.

Market Context

The inertial navigation sensor market includes established suppliers such as Honeywell, Northrop Grumman, and iXblue, which manufacture high-precision fiber-optic and ring laser gyroscopes primarily for defense and aerospace customers. MEMS gyroscope suppliers, including Bosch, STMicroelectronics, and TDK InvenSense, serve the consumer electronics and automotive sectors. Anello Photonics is positioning the SiPhOG as a product category between these two segments, targeting applications that require performance closer to fiber-optic gyroscopes but at costs and sizes closer to MEMS devices.

The company, based in Santa Clara, California, has received backing from investors including Applied Ventures and Porsche Ventures, according to previously published company disclosures.

What Happens Next

Anello Photonics is working with system integrators in the autonomous vehicle and defense sectors to qualify the SiPhOG for production programs, with additional technical specifications and availability timelines expected to be released through the company's engineering engagement process.