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2019-04-04
iXblue’s GAPS Destined for the French Navy
The French General Directorate of Armament for Technical Naval Applications (DGA Technique Navales–DGA/TN) has selected iXblue’s acoustic positioning system (GAPS) for its Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) positioning and monitoring applications.
DGA Technique Navales (formerly GESMA) is an entity specialising in experimentation within the domain of mine warfare, as confirms Hubert Pelletier, Head of the Acoustics Division of iXblue: “The choice of GAPS by the DGA/TN, which is the reference in France in the area of mine warfare, is a clear mark of the confidence placed in our underwater positioning technology. This contract has further strengthened a longstanding working relationship with the DGA/TN as testimony to the quality and reliability of our Gaps acoustic positioning system for strategic military applications such as mine warfare.”
The new contract announced by the DGA/TN confirms the widespread success of iXblue’s acoustic positioning system over the past few years. In fact, in recent years, GAPS has been adopted by more than 120 key players in the military and civil sectors worldwide, so establishing itself as a leading product for operations requiring the precise positioning of underwater vehicles, towed fish and divers.
GAPS’ Phins Subsea Integration
Phins Subsea is a subsea inertial navigation system providing position, true heading, attitude, speed, depth and heave, featuring a high-accuracy inertial measurement unit coupled with an embedded digital signal processor in order to run an advanced Kalman filter. Phins Subsea can be pre-assembled and pre-calibrated with a doppler velocity log version, making the system easy to install and ready to use for more precise navigation.
GAPS is a high-performance Ultra Short Baseline (USBL) positioning and communication system employed for locating and communicating subsea assets, which combines an USBL antenna and a fibre-optic inertial navigation system (INS) in the same housing. The system employs advanced acoustic techniques and wideband signals to ensure maximum performance in the most difficult of conditions.
The GAPS system boasts a pre-calibrated USBL antenna offering very high-precision geo-referenced positioning performance, particularly in shallow waters and in noisy environments. In addition, a telemetry function enables an acoustic communication link to recalibrate the inertial navigation systems (INS) on board the underwater vehicle, as well as for command and control of the AUV.
GAPS opens its 3D antenna broadly, up to as much as 200 degrees. The innovation taking place here gives the system unrivalled capacity in terms of horizontal tracking, while enabling the system to cover a very extensive area and keep the mothership well away from the area of risk.
Oil, Gas and Defence Applications
Being both compact and lightweight, GAPS is very easy to integrate and use when installed on a range of platforms (hulls of ships, hoisting systems, poles, buoys and surface drones). Its most notable application areas are structure placement, Remotely Operated underwater Vehicles (ROV) navigation, autonomous underwater vehicles (AUV) and glider operations.
GAPS has also been used for towfish tracking, cable/pipe laying, diver tracking, exploration, drilling, mining and Dynamic Positioning (DP). It can number amongst its civilian applications use by seabed crawlers, touch-down positioning, mattress lay, plough/trench positioning, Out-of-Straightness, BSR positioning, seismic (streamer, nodes, OBC), rig move, anchor positioning and riser positioning.
Meanwhile, the defence sector has used GAPS for diver and AUV tracking, underhull inspection, imagery and mine countermeasures. GAPS has also proved popular amongst scientists who have integrated its use in ROV, AUV, gliders and towfish tracking.
Key GAPS Components
• The main part of the GAPS system comprises of the acoustic array serving to communicate with the transponder(s) installed on the target(s), the INS for motion compensation and absolute georeferencing, as well as the components required for electronics and signal processing.
• Communication with the GAPS headtakes place through a 50 m or 95 m long cable. Here, the possible options are ATEX, 95m or a greater length by using the repeater Box.
• The GAPS Box component is designed to interface between the GAPS head and external peripherals. It includes a power supply from mains and 28 Vdc, Ethernet connector, RS422 / 232 input / output and synchro in / out on BNC.
• A complete turnkey solution is available as an option, one including a GPS receiver.
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