The Requirement

The requirement was to produce a precision integrated navigation system for Mine Countermeasures Vessels. It had to comply with NATO policy over the military use of GPS including SAASM.  The system was required to take data from the ship’s navigation sensors to produce accurate positions for any ship reference point while applying advanced anti-spoofing and anti-jam technology.  Positions with full quality control and assurance data are required for the ship’s action information system as well as the Bridge and Operations Room displays. The system was to be upgradable and has in fact been upgraded several times. Named CPUPak-4, it is currently in service with NATO and other navies totalling thirty vessels.

Our Solution

We supplied CPUPak-4 to outfit two complete vessel classes.  This hardware included an onboard PC and precision survey-standard GPS receiver. It also utilised satellite-broadcast wide-area GPS corrections alongside the SBAS services from WAAS and EGNOS. CPUPak-4 also used SAASM GPS, ship’s gyros, pitch/roll and other sensors as well as GPS anti-jam antenna.  CPUPak-4 also displayed a full navigation quality control display on the ships’ bridge as well as in the Operations Room. Fitted to ships in 2003 CPUPak-4 was given a NATO CAGE number and has now gone on to be fitted in several other navies Mine Countermeasures Vessels worldwide.

Products used

CPUPak-4 including a dual-frequency GPS L band receiver. The system ran a real-time O/S and displayed navigation graphics on remote 640 x 480 flat screen explosion resistant displays. NAVPak-4 software integrates all the sensors and provides data to the displays and action information systems. NAVPak-4 also logged all faults with sample data and a diary of events that could be replayed and analysed. This function is invaluable for clear fault reporting to the maintenance authority, contractors and suppliers.