Accurate subsea tracking with USBL system

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A new inertially aided Ultra Short Baseline (USBL) system is capable of accurate subsea tracking with survey grade performance.

Pyxis USBL

Pyxis USBL combines AAE’s Sigma 2 acoustic protocols and SBG Systems’ Navsight Apogee marine INS. Photo: AAE

Applied Acoustic Engineering’s (AAE) Pyxis USBL combines AAE’s Sigma 2 acoustic protocols and SBG Systems’ Navsight Apogee marine inertial navigation system (INS) to offer AAE’s most accurate and long-range positioning system to date, plus provide multiple time, cost and performance benefits to global survey operators.

A spokesperson for SBG Systems commented: “AAE and SBG Systems have collaborated for several years on different projects and have established an excellent relationship. We are thrilled that Applied Acoustics has selected our Navsight Apogee OEM high performance system to be integrated into the first-ever USBL to embed a MEMS INS.”

Easy to handle

Pyxis USBL is a portable, calibration free system able to immediately operate from any vessel as soon as the work site has been reached. The MEMS based INS does not fall under ITAR regulations, and the range restricted option means the whole system can be shipped unhindered and without export control to almost anywhere in the world. A feature of the Pyxis system is the ability for the operator to deactivate the range restriction in the field under an export-controlled regime.

Available with short range omni-directional or long range directional transceiver options, the versatility of Pyxis USBL makes it ideal for very shallow operations such as diver monitoring, for deeper applications where ROV’s and AUV’s might be deployed, and for tracking short or long range towed sensors such as magnetometers and side scan sonars.

By Rebecca Jeffrey