iXblue completes Ramses mass training session in Aberdeen

iXblue completed training of 71 surveyors, engineers and managers, on the Planning, Operation and Maintenance of the Ramses ASBL positioning system.

The two day course ran on March 14-15, 2017 and covered the basics of subsea positioning, inertial navigation, an introduction to the Ramses system, the theory of SLAM calibration of subsea beacons, ASBL and sparse-array positioning, array design, and all the questions involved in precise positioning of subsea assets.

Held at the Doubletree by Hilton Treetops hotel, turnout was exceedingly high, with representatives from survey specialists, EPIC contractors and rental companies all in attendance. The course departed from iXblue’s usual intimate discussion-based format, a necessity dictated by the large number of attendees, but even so feedback was overwhelmingly positive.

Ramses is an acoustic synthetic baseline (ASBL) positioning system with self-contained computing designed for subsea vehicles navigation and positioning using reference transponder(s) deployed on the seabed. Tightly coupled with iXblue Inertial Navigation Systems (INS), it delivers extreme precision and robustness in challenging acoustic operational environments. Available in medium frequency (MF) or Low Frequency (LF) versions, Ramses is a part of iXblue’s combined inertial and acoustic solutions for marine construction and subsea vehicle navigation and positioning.

The principle of operation relies on accurate distance (range) measurement to subsea transponders (TP) deployed on the seabed. Unlike most LBL systems on the market which use slant ranges (3 minimum) to calculate a single position using a least-squares algorithm, Ramses ’ tight coupling with iXblue INS takes the best from each and every single measured range, ultimately making ASBL navigation possible using a single transponder.

Similar to iXblue INS, Ramses runs on 100% embedded positioning firmware based on a Kalman filter algorithm, making AUV integration possible and delivering unique functionalities such as SLAM calibration.