KVH Precision Sensors for Geodetics' Inertial Navigation Systems

 KVH Industries entered into a strategic partnership with Geodetics Inc., a leader in the development of real-time, high-precision position and navigation solutions. The goal is to provide high performance positioning and navigation products for commercial applications requiring high levels of precision, from unmanned platforms to terrestrial navigation.

Geodetics is integrating the KVH 1750 inertial measurement unit (IMU) into two solutions: Geo-INAV Advanced, a GPS-aided inertial navigation system; and Geo-ReINAV, a high-accuracy relative navigation, positioning, and orientation system. The KVH 1750 IMU provides highly accurate 6-degrees-of-freedom angular rate and acceleration data, contributing to the high performance of the Geodetics products while also providing a commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) solution. The COTS designation means the Geo-iNAV Advanced system is available for commercial applications such as manned and unmanned aircraft and control, security platforms on land, air and sea, surface or subsea unmanned vehicles, mobile mapping systems, and photogrammetry and terrestrial navigation. 

“Geodetics evaluated a number of IMU technologies, and based on our desire to address the needs of the commercial marketplace worldwide without sacrificing performance, we chose the KVH 1750 IMU, says Dr. Jeffrey Fayman, vice president, planning and development for Geodetics Inc. “With the integration of the KVH 1750 IMU in Geo-iNAV Advanced, you have the best inertial navigation system Geodetics can provide worldwide.” The navigation, position, and orientation accuracy of the Geo-iNAV Advanced is centimeter level, according to Dr. Fayman, thanks in part to the high accuracy of the KVH 1750 IMU. 

“KVH is proud to have a strategic relationship with Geodetics,” says Jay Napoli, vice president, FOG/OEM sales at KVH. “The high performance of the 1750 IMU helps enable Geodetics’ systems to deliver ground-breaking accuracy while remaining available to the commercial marketplace.” 

For navigation challenges such as collision avoidance and vehicle-to-vehicle navigation and communication (V2V), the Geodetics Geo-RelNAV system offers a highly accurate, real-time relative positioning and orientation solution that utilizes single or dual frequency GPS receivers and the high performance KVH 1750 IMU. The Geo-RelNAV provides precise relative position and orientation between moving platforms such as manned or unmanned air, marine, and ground vehicles. This relative position data is used for such applications as autonomous aerial refueling, autonomous landing, and collision avoidance. 

KVH is one of the only fiber optic gyro manufacturers to control the entire production process, from creating its own specially designed polarization-maintaining optical fiber to packaging its gyros together in advanced systems for inertial measurement, inertial navigation, and attitude heading and reference systems. As a resu