New I-Compass to Provide Reliable and Accurate Heading for Marine Applications

Geonav Marine Systems announces the public debut of the I-Compass at the Marine Technology Society's Dynamic Positioning Conference which is being held in Houston on October 7 and 8, 2007. Designed for high-accuracy applications such as those required for offshore survey vessels, the new I-Compass features a unique integration of a Fiber Optic Gyro (FOG) with a Global Positioning System (GPS) sensor to provide reliable and accurate heading, pitch and roll measurements.

When asked what this technology will mean to the offshore industry, Geonav vice president Russell Morton explained that "the I-Compass will provide FOG performance at a fraction of the cost of a conventional FOG compass. The design is unique and the system integration was built on our experience in the development of heading sensors for offshore and military applications."

Sustained high-accuracy heading through short-term GPS outages, with 50 Hz data output rates, make this a unique survey tool. Integrating FOG and GPS technologies takes advantage of absolute heading values to convert the rate compass from relative to true north heading with an accuracy of 0.15° rms. Pitch and roll values are measured to an accuracy of 0.2° rms. I-Compass also allows for an improved rate of turn response of up to 100° per second with improved stability compared to autonomous GPS heading sensors.