Maritime

FSL were contracted by Drumgrange Ltd to design, prototype, build and support an integrated navigation system that would reliably work with DGPS worldwide onboard a warship. The requirements of the system were to incorporate pitch, roll, heading, position from PPS* and SPS (*PPS requires authorization for use and only for GPS Memorandum of Understanding countries) while utilising both an anti-jamming antenna and SeaSTAR’s worldwide VBS GPS correction service. Quality control of data and Built-In-Test results from the hardware were of paramount importance. FSL’s solution was to design a new version of the CPUPak-4 with a built-in processor card and eight serial COM ports alongside Ethernet and USB. The unit also had full GUI by way of a ruggedised monitor, keyboard and trackball.

Most of the peripherals were current customer equipment fit and included Rockwell’s SPGR II PPS and SPS GPS receiver, Raytheon’s CRPA antenna and the gyrocompass. Equipment new to the table were NovAtel’s OEM4-G2-L1/L2 receiver with L band demodulator (compatible with SeaSTAR’s VBS service) and a precision pitch and roll sensor. Designed specifically for the project were the housing, I/O card and control software. The CPU card was a refined version of those used for earlier projects. It was backward compatible with all previous processor cards.