Tag: fiber-optic gyroscope

  • Inertial Labs releases high-performance FOG IMUs

    Inertial Labs releases high-performance FOG IMUs

    Photo: Inertial Labs
    Photo: Inertial Labs

    The IMU-FI-200C FOG IMUs are a fully integrated inertial measurement solution that combines the latest closed-loop FOG and MEMS sensors technologies

    Inertial Labs has released the IMU-FI-200C high-performance fiber-optic gyroscope (FOG) inertial measurement unit (IMU), a compact, self-contained strapdown, advanced tactical-grade IMU that measures linear accelerations and angular rates with three-axis tactical-grade, closed-loop FOG and three-axis high-precision MEMS accelerometers in motionless and high-dynamic applications.

    The IMU-FI-200C FOG IMUs are a fully integrated inertial measurement solution that combines the latest closed-loop FOG and MEMS sensors technologies. It is designed for a wide range of higher order integrated system applications, such as

    • antenna and line-of-sight stabilization systems
    • passenger train acceleration/deceleration and jerking systems
    • motion reference units
    • motion control sensors
    • gimbals
    • electro optical components/infrared
    • platform orientation and stabilization.

    Fully calibrated, temperature-compensated and mathematically aligned to an orthogonal coordinate system, the IMU contains gyroscopes with an accuracy of up to 0.5 deg/hr and accelerometers with a bias repeatability of less than 2-mg over their operational range, very low noise and high reliability.

    The IMU-FI-200C FOG IMUs have been thoroughly tested to perform in significant variations in temperature, high vibration and shock, and is designed to be used in air, marine and land environments.

    “New technology creates new opportunities, and the new IMU-FI-200C represents the innovative approach we take every day at Inertial Labs,” said Jamie Marraccini, president & CEO of Inertial Labs. “The high performance and flexibility to integrate into different systems and applications is what we have striven to provide to our customers with this new release.”

  • Advanced Navigation launches Boreas D70 digital fiber-optic gyroscope

    Advanced Navigation launches Boreas D70 digital fiber-optic gyroscope

    Photo: Advanced Navigation
    Photo: Advanced Navigation

    Advanced Navigation has announced the Boreas D70, a fiber-optic gyroscope (FOG) inertial navigation system (INS).

    The D70 is the latest release in the Boreas digital FOG (DFOG) series, offering a new performance grade with superior accuracy, exceptional stability and reliability. The technology is suited to surveying, mapping and navigation across subsea, marine, land and air applications.

    “We are thrilled to expand the Boreas series with the D70. It’s a system that will provide additional flexibility in the Boreas family, making ultra-high accuracy inertial navigation far more affordable than with previous FOG INS systems,” said Xavier Orr, CEO and co-founder of Advanced Navigation. “This patented technology opens the possibility for adopting FOG INS systems across a much broader range of vehicular applications, particularly autonomous vehicles and aircraft where weight and size are at a premium.”

    Boreas D70 combines closed-loop DFOG and accelerometer technologies with a dual-antenna real-time kinematic (RTK) GNSS receiver. These are coupled with Advanced Navigation’s artificial-intelligence-based fusion algorithm to deliver accurate and precise navigation.

    The system features ultra-fast gyrocompassing, acquiring and maintaining an accurate heading under demanding conditions. While the D70 does contain a GNSS receiver, it is not required for gyrocompass operation.

    Based on the company’s DFOG technology, the D70 delivers a 40% reduction in size, weight, power and cost (SWaP-C) when compared to systems of similar performance.

    • 0.01° roll and pitch
    • 0.1° secant latitude heading (gyrocompass)
    • 0.01°/hour bias instability
    • 10 mm position accuracy

    The Boreas Series

    The Boreas DFOG series features ultra-fast gyrocompassing and can acquire heading, either stationary or dynamically, in less than two minutes. The gyrocompassing allows the system to determine a highly accurate heading without any reliance on magnetic heading or GNSS.

    The technology stems from Advanced Navigation’s artificial intelligence sensor-fusion algorithm allowing the system to extract significantly more information from the data. It is designed for control applications, with a high level of health monitoring and instability prevention to ensure stable and reliable data.

    Advanced Navigation designed Boreas from the ground up for reliability and availability. The hardware and software are designed and tested to international safety standards and have been environmentally tested to MIL-STD-810. The system achieves a mean time between failure (MTBF) of more than 70,000 hours.

    Additional features of the Boreas D70 include Ethernet, CAN and NMEA protocols, as well as disciplined timing via a PTP server and 1 PPS. An embedded web interface provides full access to all of the device’s internal functions and data. Internal storage allows for up to 1 year of data logging.

    About DFOG Technology

    DFOG is patented technology, which has been developed over 25 years involving two research institutions. DFOG was created to meet the demand for smaller and more cost-effective FOGs, while increasing reliability and accuracy.

    The first generation of FOG, made available in 1976, used analog signals and analog-signal processing. The second generation was developed in 1994 and is still used to this day. It improved upon the first generation with a hybrid approach using an analog signal in the coil with digital signal processing.

    In 2021, FOG evolved into DFOG. This third generation of FOG sets itself apart by being completely digital, providing higher performance and reliability while enabling a 40% reduction in SWaP-C.

    To achieve this, three different yet complementary technologies have been developed to improve the capabilities of FOG.

    Digital Modulation Techniques. DFOG uses a specially developed digital modulation technique passing spread spectrum signals through the coil. The new digital modulation technique introduced in DFOG technology allows in-run variable errors in the coil to be measured and removed from the measurements. This makes DFOG significantly more stable and reliable than traditional FOGs. It also allows a smaller FOG with less coil length to achieve the accuracy of one with a longer coil.

    Revolutionary Optical Chip. By integrating five sensitive components into a single chip and removing all the fiber splices, the size, weight and power are reduced considerably while significantly improving reliability and performance.

    Specially Designed Optical Coil. DFOG employs a specially designed closed-loop optical coil, developed to take full advantage of the digital modulation techniques. The design allows for optimum sensing of in-run variable coil errors using the new digital modulation technique. It also provides a very high level of protection for the optical components from shock and vibration.

  • Advanced Navigation launches Boreas digital FOG

    Advanced Navigation launches Boreas digital FOG

    Photo: Advanced Navigation
    Photo: Advanced Navigation

    Advanced Navigation has launched a new fiber-optic gyroscope inertial navigation system (INS), named Boreas. It is an ultra-high accuracy, strategic-grade INS, offering a reduction in size, weight, power and cost. Boreas is the first product to be released based on Advanced Navigation’s new DFOG (digital fiber-optic gyroscope) technology, which is the culmination of 25 years of development involving two research institutions.

    The Boreas is targeted at applications requiring always-available, ultra-high accuracy orientation and navigation including marine, surveying, subsea, aerospace, robotics and space.

    “Boreas is the first product on the market to offer our patent-pending DFOG technology,” said Advanced Navigation CEO Xavier Orr. “DFOG represents a step-change for fiber-optic gyroscopes. With Boreas’ ultra-high-accuracy and strategic-grade performance combined with the reduction of size, weight, power and cost by 40%, we will be able to enable new industries and applications that were never possible before.”

    The Boreas delivers strategic-grade bias stability of 0.001 deg/hr. This allows it to achieve ultra-high roll/pitch accuracy of 0.005 degrees and heading accuracy of 0.006 degrees. Boreas allows for full independence from GPS with dead-reckoning accuracy of 0.01% distance traveled with an odometer or Doppler velocity log.

    The Boreas features ultra-fast gyro compassing, taking only 2 minutes to acquire heading in both stationary environments or on the move. Gyro compassing allows the system to determine a highly accurate heading of 0.01 degrees secant latitude without relying on magnetic heading or GPS.

    The Boreas contains Advanced Navigation’s sensor-fusion algorithm, which is more intelligent than the typical extended Kalman filter. The algorithm is able to extract significantly more information from the data by making use of human-inspired artificial intelligence. It was designed for control applications, with a high level of health monitoring and instability prevention to ensure stable and reliable data.

    Advanced Navigation designed Boreas from the ground up for reliability and availability. Both the hardware and software are designed and tested to safety standards, and it has been environmentally tested to mil standards.

    The system is designed for a mean time between failures of 500,000 hours. Additional features include Ethernet, CAN and NMEA protocols, as well as a disciplined timing server providing PTP. An embedded web interface provides full access to all of the device’s internal functions and data. Internal storage allows for up to one year of data logging.

  • Emcore’s EN-300 FOG IMU in high-rate production

    Emcore’s EN-300 FOG IMU in high-rate production

    EN-300 Precision Fiber Optic IMU/INS (Photo: Emcore)
    EN-300 Precision Fiber Optic IMU/INS (Photo: Emcore)

    Emcore Corp.’s EN-300 FOG (fiber optic gyro) inertial measurement unit (IMU) is now in high-rate production and is broadly available for purchase with 12-week lead times. The EN-300 was announced in April.

    Based in Alhambra, California, Emcore providees advanced mixed-signal products that serve the aerospace, defense and broadband communications markets.

    Emcore’s EN-300 offers up to 10 times the bias performance of legacy systems in a form, fit and function compatible package, the company said. This improved performance makes the EN-300 suitable for GPS-denied navigation, precise targeting and line-of-sight stabilization requirements for unmanned aerial vehicles as well as other demanding applications.

    Emcore has successfully completed a comprehensive Design Verification Testing (DVT) regimen over tough environmental conditions and has provided numerous proof-of-technology IMUs globally to defense contractor primes and aerospace customers seeking to upgrade their platforms and systems. Emcore is now expanding production of the EN-300 with strict manufacturing process and quality controls in place to enhance on-time delivery and specification compliance.

    “Given the strong market interest and demand, we are extremely pleased to announce the production ramp-up and broad availability for purchase of the EN-300,” said David Hoyh, Emcore’s director of sales & marketing for navigation products. “Emcore’s vertical integration creates unique capabilities that enable us to deliver the higher level of performance demanded by the market, coupled with greater precision and lower cost to further benefit our customers.”

    According to Emcore, the EN-300 precision FOG IMU is a three-axis, closed-loop design using the Company’s proprietary, solid-state FOG transceiver with advanced integrated optics, offering improved reliability and lower cost than legacy IMUs. It can be ordered with performance options tailored to specific customer requirements.

    The COTS (commercial off-the-shelf) EN-300-3 model achieves bias in-run stability as low as 0.04 degree/hr with ARW (Angle Random Walk) of 0.015 degree/rt-hr. The non-ITAR EN-300 is superior in performance to older generation such as the closed-loop LN-200 IMU or open-loop KVH 1750 series IMU units that have higher bias over temperature drift.

  • Integrating photonic chips for better performance

    Integrating photonic chips for better performance

    KVH photonics engineers test PICs for validation prior to production. (Photo: KVH)
    KVH photonics engineers test PICs for validation prior to production. (Photo: KVH)

    In June, KVH Industries launched the P-1775 inertial measurement unit (IMU), featuring its new PIC Inside photonic integrated chip (PIC) technology.

    After developing and testing the technology for more than three years, the company began incorporating it into existing product lines and has shipped the first units.

    The PIC technology features an integrated planar optical chip that replaces individual fiber-optic components to simplify production while maintaining or improving accuracy and performance.

    The product is designed to deliver 20 times higher accuracy than less expensive micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) IMUs. It uses modular designs for ease of integration and has outstanding repeatability unit-to-unit, according to the company.

    KVH will add the technology to its inertial sensor product line for use across a broad range of applications, from navigation to stabilization and pointing.

    KVH’s fiber-optic gyros (FOGs) and FOG-based products are particularly well-suited for the large and growing autonomous market, which includes applications on land, sea and air, such as drones, people movers, trucks and mining and construction equipment.

    Moving Components to the Chip

    With PIC technology, KVH’s FOG production process incorporates machine automation for photonics assembly. (Photo: KVH)
    Photo:With PIC technology, KVH’s FOG production process incorporates machine automation for photonics assembly. (Photo: KVH)

    The controls on FOGs have an electronics portion and an optics portion. The latter consists of a light source, a detector, couplers, polarizers, a coil (which performs the sensing), and a piezoelectric device for modulating the light, explained Robert Balog, KVH’s chief technology officer.

    Until now, the company had fabricated all the products for that optical circuit in its Chicago facility, in a process that was labor-intensive and required much process control. For the PIC, “We’ve taken the couplers and the polarizer sections specifically and moved them onto the chip level,” Balog said.

    While KVH manufactures the chip much like any other semiconductor device, rather than passing the light through the fiber KVH is now passing it through wave guides that are contained within that photonics chip, thereby moving the creation of the coupler module into a wafer-level component.

    Mass Production and Better Quality

    KVH produces the chips en masse on a wafer, then singulates and samples them. Once they are qualified and spot-checked, the chips are incorporated into KVH products.
    “This affords us a way to mass produce those components,” Balog said, “and gives us much better quality.”

    Photo: KVH
    Photo: KVH

    Additionally, it produces a much smaller device than before. The company will not reveal any numbers regarding its performance improvement until it produces and distributes more PICs, but “it is already producing better results than the manually produced components.”

    The production process is intimately linked to the overall performance of the sensor. “The tighter your process control, the more reliable you can make the product,” Balog said.

    The new process also improves the device’s field reliability because it contains fewer discreet components. The improved performance specifications on each individual FOG improve the overall performance of the IMU or the inertial navigation system (INS) because the bias is more stable and repeatable.

    The Future

    What is in the technology’s future?

    “The next step is integrating the light source and the detector and potentially a modulator into that chip as well,” Balog said. “So, our ultimate technology road map is to continue condensing what would have been discrete components in traditional gyros all within that chip. As this technology progresses, it will get smaller, tighter, and better. Then you will see big leaps in performance.”

  • KVH inertial sensor integrates photonic chip technology

    KVH inertial sensor integrates photonic chip technology

    New patented PIC Inside technology is designed to enhance inertial sensor performance and reliability for the growing autonomous market

    Photo: KVH
    Photo: KVH

    KVH Industries has launched the P-1775 inertial measurement unit (IMU), featuring KVH’s new PIC Inside photonic integrated chip (PIC) technology.

    KVH has been developing and testing the technology for more than three years and is now incorporating it into existing product lines. The first units have started shipping.

    One of the first customers has integrated the P-1775 IMU into its next-generation rocket launch vehicle.

    KVH’s PIC Inside technology features an integrated planar optical chip that replaces individual fiber-optic components to simplify production while maintaining or improving accuracy and performance.

    The PIC Inside product is designed to deliver 20 times higher accuracy than less expensive MEMS inertial measurement units, uses modular designs for ease of integration, and has outstanding repeatability unit-to-unit.

    “I applaud the tremendous effort by our incredible engineers in developing this groundbreaking technology and I am thrilled that we have begun to incorporate PIC Inside technology into our existing products, a process that we expect to continue throughout the year,” said Martin Kits van Heyningen, KVH CEO.

    The PIC technology will be added to KVH’s inertial sensor product line for use across a broad range of applications from navigation to stabilization and pointing. KVH’s fiber-optic gyros (FOGs) and FOG-based products are particularly well-suited for the large and growing autonomous market. This market includes applications on land, sea and air, such as drones, people movers, trucks, and mining and construction equipment.

    Autonomous applications rely on high-quality inertial sensors to deliver an extremely accurate navigation solution, delivering the performance required in critical metrics such as angle random walk (ARW) and bias instability.

    Next-generation driverless cars, which require centimeter-level precision for safety, are the ideal application for KVH’s inertial products, KVH said. Employing the PIC design allows for a lower cost and scalable solution due to the elimination of various fiber components and a reduction of labor.

    In 2019, KVH delivered its first product prototypes containing PIC technology to automotive customers and presented the science behind the technology to an audience of engineers at an inertial sensor conference, describing the extensive development, testing, and benefits of the new technology.

    KVH is a leading innovator for assured navigation and autonomous accuracy using high-performance sensors and integrated inertial systems. KVH’s widely fielded TACNAV systems are in use by the U.S. Army and Marine Corps as well as many allied militaries around the world. KVH’s FOGs and FOG-based IMUs are in use today in a wide variety of applications ranging from optical, antenna and sensor stabilization systems to mobile mapping solutions and autonomous platforms and cars.

  • iXBlue launches range of FOG-based INS for mobile mapping

    iXBlue launches range of FOG-based INS for mobile mapping

    The compact Atlans A3 INS. (Photo: iXBlue)
    The compact Atlans A3 INS. (Photo: iXBlue)

    iXBlue has launched a new range of FOG-based inertial navigation system (INS) dedicated to land and air mobile mapping applications, the Atlans Series. iXBlue is high-tech company specializing in the design and manufacturing of advanced navigation and georeferencing solutions.

    Based on iXBlue’s fiber-optic gyroscope (FOG) technology, the Atlans Series is a scalable range of north-seeking and north-keeping inertial navigation systems. They provide FOG performance to the full spectrum of land and air mobile-mapping applications and offer highly accurate positioning (up to 0.01 meter) in all conditions, including within GNSS-denied environments such as urban canyons, mountainous or forests areas.

    “Our existing high-grade Atlans A7 INS had already been adopted as the preferred georeferencing solution by leading U.S. companies operating in the pavement condition survey industry,” explained Marine Slingue, vice president, iXBlue. “Having identified the high potential of our technology for other land and mobile mapping applications, we decided to develop a complete range of scalable INS that each meet the specific requirements of every applications. With our new Atlans Series INS, we are now bringing the unrivaled georeferencing accuracy performance offered by the FOG technology to all land and air mapping applications, enabling robust and uninterrupted data-acquisition operations.”

    Quick and simple to install on all platforms, the new Atlans Series INS offers efficient “set-and-forget” operations for a wide range of land and air applications including asset inventory, pavement condition survey, vehicle automation, HD mapping, automotive testing, ground-truth, airborne surveys (UAVs, planes, helicopters), as well as precision pointing.

  • KVH showcases IMUs at Ocean Business 2019

    KVH showcases IMUs at Ocean Business 2019

    Image: KVH
    The GEO-FOG 3D Dual inertial navigation system (INS) is designed for applications that require heading at system startup or in low dynamic conditions. (Image: KVH)

    KVH Industries will showcase its inertial products at Ocean Business 2019, taking place in Southampton, U.K., April 9-11.

    When GNSS is not an option, KVH’s Fiber Optic Gyro (FOG)-based IMUs and inertial navigation systems — the GEO-FOG 3D and 3D Dual — provide accurate and reliable navigation for manned and unmanned maritime and underwater systems, the company said.

    “When we compare the data and performance of the KVH 1750 IMU to comparable SWAPC components, we find a tremendous disparity in performance,” said Ben Kinnaman, CEO of Greensea Systems Inc. “The KVH 1750 IMU outperforms similar components and sensors in that category by orders of magnitude.”

    Visit KVH at Stand J8 and learn more about KVH’s FOG-based 1750 IMU, which is available with 2g accelerometers and designed specifically for subsea vehicle navigation and positioning.

     

  • SBG’s Horizon IMU equips for harsh-environment hydrography

    SBG’s Horizon IMU equips for harsh-environment hydrography

    The Horizon fiberoptic gyro (FOG) inertial measurement unit (IMU) now forms part of SBG Systems’ Navsight Marine Solution, dedicated to hydrographers. Navsight is available at different levels of accuracy to meet the various application requirements and can be connected to various external equipment such as echo-sounders, lidar, and so on.

    Photo: SBG Systems
    Photo: SBG Systems

    Navsight Marine Solution already offered two levels of performance with the Ekinox and Apogee IMUs. These MEMS-based IMUs address most of hydrographics markets whether shallow or deep water.

    The new Horizon IMU enables customers to deploy Navsight in the most demanding environments such as surveying highly dense areas (bridges, buildings, and so on) as well as applications where only a single antenna can be used.

    The Horizon IMU is based on a closed-loop FOG technology which enables ultra-low bias and noise levels. This technology allows robust and consistent performance even in low dynamics survey.

    Navsight solution is easy to install, as the sensor alignment and lever arms are automatically estimated and validated. Once connected to the Navsight processing unit, the web interface guides the user to configure the solution. A 3D view of the vessel shows the entered parameters so that the user can check the installation. The Navsight unit also integrates light emitting diode (LED) indicators for satellite availability, RTK corrections, and power. It comes with a rugged enclosure, or in a rack version for larger vessels.

    Completing the Navsight offer, Qinertia, SBG’s post-processing software, gives access to offline RTK corrections from more than 7,000 base stations located in 164 countries. Trajectory and orientation are then greatly improved by processing inertial data and raw GNSS observables in forward and backward directions. Computation takes less than 3 minutes for a 6-hour log thanks to the Forward and Backward calculation processed at the same time.

  • PNT Roundup: Self-driving cars need FOG, inertial

    New products come to market poised for take-off

    KVH high-precision fiber-optic gyro. The red illumination in the photo represents light moving through the FOG’s optical circuit of coiled fiber. This circuit is the FOG’s sensing unit, mounted with power and processing electronics within a driverless car to provide precise data for the car’s navigation systems.
    KVH high-precision fiber-optic gyro
    The red illumination in the photo represents light moving through the FOG’s optical circuit of coiled fiber. This circuit is the FOG’s sensing unit, mounted with power and processing electronics within a driverless car to provide precise data for the car’s navigation systems.

    Fiber-optic gyros (FOGs) and FOG-based inertial measurement units (IMUs) form key parts of the integrated sensor systems essential for highly accurate autonomous car performance. For example, FOGs provide precise azimuth measurements that an autonomous car’s logic processing unit and control systems need to determine motion through a curve.

    An IMU — which can include FOGs and accelerometers in one compact package — also provides highly accurate six-degrees-of-freedom angular rate and acceleration data to precisely track the position and orientation of the car even when GPS is unavailable, helping the car stay on course.

    KVH Industries is developing a FOG-based, low-cost inertial sensor for self-driving cars. The company has also released a Developer’s Kit to assist design engineers with integrating FOG technology into driverless car control systems.

    “Extremely precise heading based on fiber-optic gyro technology is absolutely essential for autonomous vehicle performance,” said Martin Kits van Heyningen, KVH’s chief executive officer. “This is something we learned from having been involved with more than a dozen driverless car development programs over the years.”

    “What we are seeing now is that each driverless vehicle concept in development around the world is being designed in a unique way,” van Heyningen continued. “With so many different possibilities, developers can accelerate their progress by working with a proven technology such as KVH’s FOGs and FOG-based IMUs and leveraging our experience to ensure their success.”

    Developer’s Kit

    The new Developer’s Kit includes the user interface software and all components needed to connect a KVH FOG or FOG-based IMU to a computer to configure, analyze and test a unit. “The kit is designed to help engineers get up and running in minutes, making it easier to run diagnostics and accelerate their system development,” said Roger Ward, KVH’s director of FOG product development.

    “We have successfully produced more than 90,000 fiber-optic gyros for an extensive range of unmanned applications, in part because of our ability to tailor size, performance and cost to meet different design needs,” said Jeff Brunner, KVH’s vice president for FOG operations. “Controlling the entire FOG design and manufacturing process gives us that advantage, and makes it possible to produce a low-cost sensor when driverless cars enter full-scale production.”

    KVH’s FOGs and FOG-based IMUs are in use in prototype programs not only for autonomous cars, but also for production programs for underwater unmanned vehicle navigation and rail/track geometry measurement systems, to name just a few. In addition, KVH’s inertial products have been widely adopted for commercial applications such as land-based street-mapping platforms, unmanned aerial systems, camera-stabilization systems and remotely operated subsea systems.

    KVH’s 1750 IMU was an integral part of 11 of the 23 humanoid robot finalists in last year’s DARPA Robotics finals, a competition designed to showcase robots capable of intervening for and even replacing humans in high-risk situations such as fires, earthquakes and other natural disasters.

  • KVH looks to self-driving cars with inertial sensor plans

    KVH looks to self-driving cars with inertial sensor plans

    KVH Industries is developing a fiber optic gyro (FOG)-based, low-cost inertial sensor for self-driving cars.

    The company also released a Developer’s Kit to assist design engineers with integrating FOG technology into driverless car control systems.

    KVH’s high-precision FOG is key to a driverless car’s performance. In this photo, the red illumination represents light moving through the FOG’s optical circuit of coiled fiber; this circuit is the FOG’s sensing unit — it is mounted with power and processing electronics within a driverless car to provide precise data for the car’s navigation systems.
    KVH’s high-precision FOG is key to a driverless car’s performance. In this photo, the red illumination represents light moving through the FOG’s optical circuit of coiled fiber; this circuit is the FOG’s sensing unit — it is mounted with power and processing electronics within a driverless car to provide precise data for the car’s navigation systems.

    FOGs and FOG-based inertial measurement units (IMUs) are key parts of the sensor mechanisms that are essential for highly accurate autonomous car performance, KVH said. For example, FOGs provide precise azimuth measurements that an autonomous car’s logic processing unit and control systems need to determine motion through a curve.

    An IMU — which includes FOGs and accelerometers in one compact package — also provides highly accurate 6-degrees-of-freedom angular rate and acceleration data to precisely track the position and orientation of the car even when GPS is unavailable, helping the car stay on course.

    As a manufacturer of high-performance sensors and integrated inertial systems for defense and commercial guidance and stabilization applications, KVH Industries has experience in autonomous vehicle prototype programs and unmanned applications.

    “Extremely precise heading based on fiber-optic gyro technology is absolutely essential for autonomous vehicle performance,” said Martin Kits van Heyningen, KVH’s chief executive officer. “This is something we learned from having been involved with more than a dozen driverless car development programs over the years.”

    “What we are seeing now is that each driverless vehicle concept in development around the world is being designed in a unique way,” said Kits van Heyningen. “With so many different possibilities, developers can accelerate their progress by working with a proven technology such as KVH’s FOGs and FOG-based IMUs and leveraging our experience to ensure their success.”

    Developer’s Kit. The new Developer’s Kit includes the user interface software and all components needed to connect a KVH FOG or FOG-based IMU to a computer to configure, analyze and test a unit. “The kit is designed to help engineers get up and running in minutes, making it easier to run diagnostics and accelerate their system development,” said Roger Ward, KVH’s director of FOG product development.

    Driverless cars represent one of the fastest areas of autonomous-systems development. Transportation experts, automotive manufacturers and engineers alike predict that driverless cars will be commonplace soon.

    An updated policy concerning automated vehicles will soon be published by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), which is part of the U.S. Department of Transportation. “The rapid development of emerging automation technologies means that partially and fully automated vehicles are nearing the point at which widespread deployment is feasible,” NHTSA said.

    “We have successfully produced more than 90,000 fiber-optic gyros for an extensive range of unmanned applications, in part because of our ability to tailor size, performance, and cost to meet different design needs,” said Jeff Brunner, KVH’s vice president for FOG operations. “Controlling the entire FOG design and manufacturing process gives us that advantage, and makes it possible to produce a low-cost sensor when driverless cars enter full-scale production.”

    KVH’s FOGs and FOG-based IMUs are in use in prototype programs not only for autonomous cars, but also for production programs for underwater unmanned vehicle navigation and rail/track geometry measurement systems, to name just a few.

    KVH1750-T
    The KVH 1750 IMU.

    In addition, KVH’s inertial products have been widely adopted for commercial applications such as land-based street mapping platforms, unmanned aerial systems, camera stabilization systems and remotely operated subsea systems.

    As more and more programs and platforms use KVH’s inertial products, they are becoming the reference standards of the unmanned world. For example, KVH’s 1750 IMU was an integral part of 11 of the 23 humanoid robot finalists in last year’s DARPA Robotics finals, a competition designed to showcase robots capable of intervening for and even replacing humans in high-risk situations such as fires, earthquakes, and other natural disasters.

    “Our IMUs and inertial sensors have already been used in a wide range of products and applications, and we know that it’s just the beginning,” said Kits van Heyningen. “We are thrilled to play a role in these exciting developments and emerging applications that are literally changing everyday life.”

  • KVH Inertial Solutions Showcased at ION GNSS+

    KVH Inertial Solutions Showcased at ION GNSS+

    KVH_1775_IMU-WKVH is a fiber optic gyro (FOG) manufacturer that controls every aspect of its fiber-optic technology — from drawing its own specialized polarization-maintaining fiber to building precision FOGs and FOG-based inertial systems.

    KVH will be showcasing its FOG-based inertial measurement units (IMUs) at this year’s ION GNSS+ conference, taking place Sept. 14-18 in Tampa, Fla.

    Many of today’s demanding applications require high-performance inertial sensors that provide consistent and reliable accuracy — and strike the right balance between performance, size/weight, power consumption, and price, KVH explained. The company offers three IMUs:

    • 1775 IMU – Premium performance for critical applications
    • 1750 IMU – Advanced performance and versatility
    • 1725 IMU – Superior performance at MEMS prices

    KVH will be at booth 516 in the ION GNSS+ Exhibit Hall.

    Below is a video tour of KVH’s high-performance fiber-optic gyro manufacturing facility, which shows how precision, quality and accuracy are built into each KVH sensor.