Colibrys and iXBlue announce smallest marine and subsea gyrocompassing and AHRS based navigation systems

iXBlue, France / Colibrys, Neuchatel, April 2012 - announced the launch of the latest generation of marine and subsea fully strapdown gyrocompassing and AHRS based navigation system called QUADRANS. The small size and high precision was achieved to be the smallest such a system can achieve on the market today. The small size and high precision was achieved in a large part due to the integration on latest MEMS accelerometers from Colibrys with a fully strapdown gyrocompass system.

“Gyrocompasses are widely used for the navigation of a wide range of ships, from container ships and cargo boats to yachts, fishing, ferries or scientific ships to name just a few. This technique presents real advantages over magnetic compasses as they find true north, as determined by Earth’s rotation, which is more useful for subsea navigation than magnetic north as they are unaffected by ferromagnetic materials. The counter part is that they require high end gyro, hence the use of Fiber-Optic solutions and high end accelerometers to ensure best possible local stabilization of the gyro. That’s why Colibrys accelerometers have been selected and qualified with our full satisfaction for this new product QUADRANS.” said Mr. Bertrand Laubie Marketing Director from iXBlue.

Colibrys precision MEMS tilt sensors are ideal solutions for Gyrocompassing and Attitude and Heading Reference Systems (AHRS) in the air, on land, on the sea and undersea, offering the specifications such as short term and long term stability, the reliability and the capability to work within specification under harsh environments. “The qualification of Colibrys by iXBlue reinforces our recognition as a world leading accelerometer supplier for medium and high end inertial applications” said Mr. Bahram Arbab, Colibrys Sales director for Europe and Asia.

About Colibrys
COLIBRYS is a world-leading supplier of standard and semi-custom MEMS based motion sensors to the harsh-environments (Military, Aerospace and Energy) and safety critical (Industrial and Instrumentation) applications. COLIBRYS family of motion sensors includes extremely low noise, shock resistant seismic sensors, high stability shock tolerant inertial and shock accelerometers tilt sensors as well as DC coupled capacitive vibration sensors. COLIBRYS is based in Neuchâtel, Switzerland. Additional information is available at www.colibrys.com.

About IXBLUE
The iXBlue group is built around companies, well known for their continuous innovation. The group provides a range of fine, high technology equipment, systems and turn-key solutions in the areas of navigation and surveillance, underwater positioning and communication, seabed imaging and surveying. iXBlue is able to combine its unique technologies, products, systems and services from across its subsidiaries to provide the kind of solutions that cannot be found anywhere else in the industry. In 2011, iXBlue counts 450 employees for a turnover of 75 M€. To learn more about about iXBlue, visit the company’s website at www.ixblue.com.