The St Lawrence River is open all year to the port of Montreal and surveys are typically conducted in the spring to monitor the channel for any obstructions and silting that may have developed during the winter. There is also a continuous requirement to survey areas before and after any maintenance dredging operations.

The Orion INS is the most advanced inertial navigation system ever produced by Teledyne TSS and has been supplied to the CHS through ROMOR Atlantic Ltd, which is the Teledyne TSS representative in Canada.

The INS employs an advanced and highly dependable algorithm that processes the data generated by three separate ring laser gyros (RLG) chosen for their dependability and accuracy. They can be used at operating temperatures ranging from -10°C to +55°C and require a settling time of less than 15 minutes.

The new Orion system offers a MTBF (Mean Time Between Failure) of 30,000 hours while its key individual components are rated at 300,000 hours MTBF.

In addition to the new Orion, Teledyne TSS Ltd has also launched a new  Gyrocompass. The SGB 2000 uses the latest solid state technology and has been developed for any applications needing a rugged dependable and accurate primary heading source whilst operating in extreme sea conditions as with high speed craft or for subsea applications.

The new SGB 2000 has no moving parts and it incorporates high grade inertial sensing elements with exceptionally high shock rating. The advanced ring laser gyros and accelerometers within the SGB 2000 also offer a MTBF in excess of 300,000 hours.

The new gyrocompass is also available in both surface and subsea housings rated to 3,000m water depth. It is latitude and speed corrected and subsea versions can be mounted horizontally or vertically. It also provides the benefits of multiple configurable I/O channels with a fast settling time and low power consumption.

The surface variant of the SGB 2000 will be available with IMO Wheelmark and HSC (High Speed Craft) certification and has a flexible interface allowing easy connectivity to existing ships’ systems.