PHINS 6000 was launched this week at the Unmanned Underwater Vehicle Showcase 2005 (UUVS) in Southampton, England.

The company said the PHINS 6000 could provide subsea vessels with position, (X, Y, Z), true heading, attitude, speed and heave information.

PHINNS 6000 is based on Fiber Optic Gyroscope (FOG) technology coupled with a digital signal processor that runs a Kalman filter. The filter also holds a GPS hybridation for surface alignment and was developed especially for marine applications, said iXSea

“The standard PHINS is the inertial system at the heart of many AUV navigation systems, while PHINS 6000 targets the AUV and ROV markets where off-the-shelf INS systems are increasingly in demand,” said iXSea UK managing director Richard Binks.

iXSea said the INS could connect to different aiding sensors such as: GPS receiver (any type, single antenna); Doppler Velocity Log (DVL for subsea vehicles); acoustic positioning systems such as USBL or LBL and Depth sensor.

Binks said the PHINS 6000 was packaged in a 6000m titanium housing, making it one of the smallest INS’ in the world.

He said Oceaneering Norway AS had placed the first order, using the PHINS 6000 to surface USBL systems, which he said would smooth and extend the capability of the of the surface based Ultra Short Baseline Positioning Systems into deeper water.

“This system can replace the current solutions which are dominated by solely acoustic positioning techniques,” said Binks.