Submarines operate in three dimensions across operationally diverse environments. A significant mission enabler is how much faith the Submarine crew has in their ability to maintain the safety of the platform and crew.
In its primary mode of operation, a Submarine typically functions without access to Global Positioning System data. From the moment masts and antennas are lowered below the waterline, the crew must maintain navigational safety through a variety of intensive navigation techniques, one of which is known as the Pool of Errors. The Pool of Errors is an expanding ellipse that quantifies a collection of errors for a specific moment in time. From the moment the Submarine loses access to GPS positional data, Submarine operators manually compute the axes and magnitude of four cumulative error sources: Fix, Log, Gyro and Set. These errors are used to provide a visual representation of the delta between estimated position and the truest calculation of the Submarine’s actual position. OSI Maritime Systems Ltd has designed a bespoke Submarine Electronic Chart Display and Information System that digitizes the algorithm used to generate a live representation of the Pool of Errors in real-time; removing the laborious computation process and significantly reducing operator workload. Reach out to us today to learn more about how our solutions continue to allow Submariners to achieve their operational aims.
