New Underwater Positioning Solution using Underwater Acoustic and Inertial technologies Hubert Pelletier Wedneday October 30th, 2013
2 ixblue SAS in a few words A 100% French independent worldwide established group Designing and delivering first-grade differentiated technologies, products, systems and integrated solutions, 500 employees ; Revenues: 100MEUR. 8 divisions / factories in France
3 The acoustic products division, located in Brest Developing and manufacturing OCEANO (releasers & transponders) GAPS, POSIDONIA USBL RAMSES & positioning solutions DELPH INS post-processing software DELPH software (SSD)
4 Inertial Navigation Sensor in brief An instrument (electronic + sensors) which is using its initial state (position) and internal motion sensors (gyroscopes + accelerometers) to measure and calculate its subsequent positions in space with high accuracy, stability and update rate Proprietary ixblue FOG technology is proven, robust, reliable, accurate A range of sensors (HARS) and systems (INS) is offered. Some of them became de facto standards: OCTANS, PHINS, ROVINS, etc
5 Inertial products in one slide FOG technology is proven, robust, reliable, accurate A range of sensors (HARS) and systems (INS) is offered. Some of them became de facto standards! From lower end to higher standard INS HARS HYDRINS ROVINS PHINS Heading (deg x sec.lat) 0.02 0.05 0.01 pitch/roll (deg) 0.01 0.01 0.01 Position (Free inertial, 2min) 3.2m 6nm 3,2m ATLANS OCTANS Heading (deg x sec.lat) 0.23 0.1 pitch/roll (deg) 0.1 0.01 Position (with DVL) n/a 0.2% 0.1%
6 Underwater USBL Acoustic Positioning System in brief Θ R Acoustic waves propagate very well in water, the lower the frequency the longest the range Principle 1 single transponder installed on the target to track 1 acoustic array on surface to interrogate/ receive Interrogate (tone modulation) Get answers from 4 receiving hydrophones Calculate slant range R and angle Θ, then position commercial in confidence
7 Underwater Acoustics in one slide POSIDONIA II GAPS-NG RAMSES A standard USBL architecture LF band system 10,000m range 0.2% x range The first INS/USBL combined system Compact, pre-integrated, precalibrated solution Operates in most deployment conditions 4,000m range 0.2% x range accuracy, all errors included Synthetic Acoustic Positioning System Provides distance to transponders with sub metric accuracy (typ <10cm) SLAM algorithm Sparse array capability
8 Acoustic Transponders are used on tracked vehicles or sea bed ALL can be used in transponder or responder mode Can be fitted with remote transducer head Have batteries inside, with external power input commercial in confidence
9 Combining Acoustics and Inertial is the key to innovation and performance inertial only Acoustic only Combined: inertial & acoustics Position smooth Jumpy smooth Update rate high low high Drift yes no no Inertial + Acoustic, a perfect combination! INS + acoustics: keep the best of each technology Unfold the performance Added unique features The ixblue building block concept commercial in confidence
10 LF (Low Frequency) band developed for extreme long range tracking systems for scientific customers (institutes) and deep tow vehicles. POSIDONIA USBL IFREMER SHOM IPEV AWI GEOMAR MARUN CSIC COMRA KRISO GSI BGR DOS FUKADA NIO NIOT WASSOC Etc MF (Medium Frequency) band addressing the O&G market segment with operation range 4,000m as well as extreme shallow applications
11 A few examples to demonstrate the concept IFREMER (French Oceanographic Research Institute) with POSIDONIA COMRA (China) with POSIDONIA & RAMSES tracking JiaoLong Manned submersible GAPS, Global Acoustic Positioning System deployable in a few minutes GAPS + INS, the solution for performance and productivity ComMet, ixblue O&G subsea metrology solution
12 POSIDONIA II Tracking deep sea ROV in West Africa waters Who: IFREMER (Research Institute) The CONGOLOBE mission (Dec2011~Jan 2012) aimed at surveying and sampling subsea materials at the estuary of the Congo River. equipment R/V Atalante and its deep sea VICTOR ROV POSIDONIA II and FLUSH mount antenna Standard omni (192dB) transponder Five subsea location surveyed between 4,700 to 5,000m WD Performance: 0.12% x slant distance
13 POSIDONIA II & RAMSES acoustic tracking systems JIAOLONG manned submersible Who: COMRA, R/V Xiang Yang Hong 9 Final deep sea qualification of the vehicle and scientific experiments. equipment POSIDONIA II USBL positioning system RAMSES 6,000 low frequency synthetic Acoustic Positioning System A set of transponders on sea bed The deepest 7,000m water depth dive achieved in 2013 with JiaoLong
GAPS, the underwater positioning made simple Pre-calibrated, compact, all-in-one solution Installation cannot be simpler! (15kg in air, one cable to plug, all included) 14
15 GAPS + INS on the tracked vehicle No need to post-process the navigation anymore The project Sonar data acquisition requires re-processing before the result can be considered as good enough for use (build mosaic image) In order to save time and get immediate result from sonar surveys (with no or limited postprocessing), the addition of an INS allows usable absolute positioning and heading. The performance shall be declared good with an absolute real time accuracy of 1m. Job done! Distance (m) N-S S-N W-E E-W N-S - 0.22 0.65 0.52 S-N 0.22-0.68 0.47 W-E 0,65 0,68-0,3 E-W 0,52 0,47 0,3 -
16 ComMet, subsea metrology (O&G) with PHINS INS and RAMSES The fastest metrology solution on the market ComMet Combines PHINS (INS), RAMSES (acoustics) and transponders in a ready-to-use configuration Performance better than 5cm Extremely redundant and safe (QA/QC) World record with 8 metrologies completed in 2 days by 1,000m WD ComMet Operated in South China Sea by SAIPEM for CNOOC on the LIWAN field. More than 80 metrologies planned, 21 jumpers already installed
New Underwater Positioning Solution using Underwater Acoustic and Inertial technologies Thank you for your attention