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Ocean-going yachts and ferries are susceptible to rolling and pitching with waves. To minimize the effects of wave motions on the passengers and cargo, a sensor is needed that can provide the necessary information to an active stabilization system.
Yachts are stabilized primarily to provide additional comfort to the passengers. The main purpose of stabilizing ferries is safety related. The roll angle of the vessel is controlled so that any cargo stored inside will not shift.
These applications require a high quality, reliable vertical reference gyro that can survive for extended periods in a marine environment. Our vertical reference sensors are ideal for this application. Most of our vertical references provide roll angle output data in both analog and digital formats. Some of our older ADS line of vertical references provide roll angle data in analog format only. All of these sensors have provided accurate data and reliable performance for customers in this field for many years.
Watson Experience
Watson Industries has been involved in the development and production of vertical gyro products for this application since 1982.
Applicable Products
Technical Challenges
A vertical reference mounted on a ship susceptible to oscillations generated by wave motion. This makes it very difficult to sense vertical, because the dynamics of the application are better compensated for by a long time constant, but removing these errors quickly requires a short one.
This problem is overcome with Watson Industries proprietary data processing algorithms and our variable time constant settings. The Watson VRS line of vertical references is a microprocessor based system that is capable of changing the time constant of the system depending on the current situation of the sensor. This allows us to effectively compensate for the dynamics of this environment while at the same time keeping errors from entering the system. Some of our ADS vertical references are now digital as well and make an excellent choice for this application.
Requirements
- Level: ±0.3°
Typical Options
We are able to accommodate your custom needs. Go to our custom product modifications page for a listing of the most common custom options we support.