iXSea today launched a dedicated subsea INS system, PHINS 6000, at the Unmanned Underwater Vehicle Showcase 2005 (UUVS), Southampton, England.
PHINS 6000 is a subsea application for iXSea’s standard setting PHINS Inertial Navigation System. It can provide subsea vessels with position, (X, Y, Z), true-heading, attitude, speed and heave information.
PHINS 6000 is based on Fiber Optic Gyroscope (FOG) technology coupled with a digital signal processor, which runs a Kalman filter especially developed for marine applications.
“The standard PHINS is the inertial system at the heart of many AUV navigation systems, while PHINS 6000 targets the AUV and ROV markets where off-the-shelf INS systems are increasingly in demand. It is a versatile INS, which connects to different aiding sensors such as: GPS receiver (any type, single antenna); Doppler Velocity Log (DVL for subsea vehicles); acoustic positioning systems such as USBL or LBL and Depth sensor,” said Richard Binks, UK Managing Director, iXSea.
Whatever the number of sensors, the system will select the aiding data whenever it is available and optimizes its settings accordingly. PHINS Kalman filter also holds GPS hybridation for surface alignment purposes. PHINS 6000, packaged in a 6000m titanium housing, is still one of the smallest INS in the world.
“As the ROV community begins to realize the benefits of having INS, particularly in an off-the-shelf package, Oceaneering Norway AS has already placed an order for PHINS 6000,” said Mr Binks.
The order is to interface PHINS 6000 to surface USBL systems. This can smooth and extend the capability of the surface based Ultra Short Baseline Positioning Systems (such as iXSea’s GAPS system) into even deeper water.
“The capability is already here for full INS based navigation of survey ROVs. PHINS 6000 coupled with multiple interfaces to DVL, Bathy and acoustic positioning systems creates a more robust and efficient navigation solution. This system can replace the current solutions which are dominated by solely acoustic positioning techniques,” concluded Mr Binks.
