Sainsel's News

 

 

September 2011

MiniWECDIS What a great idea!

The splendid BAM "Meteoro", the most modern ship of the Spanish Navy built by Navantia, deserved the most brilliant solution for its Commander's support: the MiniWECDIS* MNR-02 developed by Sainsel.
MiniWECDIS MNR-02, a product that combines (a) the experience in compact equipments characteristics of aeronautic systems --- in which Sainsel is working since years ago --, more specifically cockpit display hardware adapted to the strict requisites of a navigation repeater for submarines, with (b) the WECDIS application developed and evolved by Sainsel during the last ten years. *MiniWECDIS is a registered trademark of Sainsel.

	When human resources are as optimized as in the BAM ships of the Spanish Navy, the role of the Commander is even more significant. The MiniWECDIS enables that the Commander has in his/her desktop permanently updated information about the development of the navigation, with all the alerts and capacities of the Bridge WECDIS navigation system.

At the meeting table the Commander can debrief about operations thanks to the display, in a great size screen, of the image provided by the MiniWECDIS, which can be easily operated by means of wireless keyboard and mouse.

	From his/her desk the Commander will be able to plan the routes and/or operations, which later can be loaded into the Bridge WECDIS for their execution. In short: a support tool that many commanders would definitely like to have on board their ships.

 

 

September 2011

Sainsel at the service of the General Directorate for the Merchant Navy

Its ample experience in navigation systems that use nautical cartography has enabled Sainsel to supply to the General Directorate for the Spanish Merchant Navy a product specialized in the exploitation of this kind of cartography which is distributed according to the standards of the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO).

	The SC24, belonging to the family of Sainsel’s cartographic servers, is a powerful tool that allows using official Electronic Nautical Cartography (ENC) with the accuracy and the guarantee of the national hydrographic institutes and of the distribution centres accredited by the IHO.

This cartographic server provides these features over an environment of navigation system ---developed according to the standards of the Maritime International Organization (IMO)--- which offers many facilities for loading, looking and exporting cartography, among others.

 

 

August 2011

More than thirty Sainsel WECDIS systems in the ships of the Spanish Navy The Spanish Navy is completing the deployment of navigation tactical systems in its main ships, with the installation of a Sainsel WECDIS NAV/C2S system both in the LPD ship Galicia and in the submarine Galerna.

On 19th August 2011 the LPD Galicia departed from the naval base at Rota setting off for Djibouti, equipped with a WECDIS NAV/C2S that puts at the officer’s disposal a valuable tool. This tool integrates data from the navigation sensors aboard using official ENC nautical cartography and therefore contributes to the accuracy and safety of the navigation. The system provides navigation facilities such us operator direct actions on the tactile screen and the export of images via USB.

The exploitation in the WECDIS of the data received from the AIS by means of a set of functions of tactical kind ---such us automated identification and alarm generation related to suspicious targets--- contributes with added capacities of high value to the operations performed by the ship. It can also optionally include the ability to manage the AIS tracks "downlink" from a helicopter which significantly increases the AIS coverage of the ship.

	Aiming to support the ships identification and the safety during navigation, the WECDIS includes a video window that shows the image captured by the optronic system aboard. This tool constitutes a safety enhancement, particularly during night time navigation.

A WCEDIS image repeater, which is installed next to the place where the Commander usually stays in the Bridge, puts at his/her disposal all the information provided by WECDIS. The brightness of the repeater can be reduced from the maximum level to zero, which enables using it at low illumination scenarios such us the Bridge during night time navigation.

	The crew of the LPD Galicia has already experienced the benefits of this system when crossing the Suez Channel and during the navigation at the Red Sea that followed, while in transit to its area of mission within the Atalanta operation in which this ship will be integrated in the following months.

All these capacities are replicated in the S71 Galerna submarine, which has recently been equipped with a WECDIS NAV/C2. This completes the furnishing of the Spanish Navy S70 submarines with this system that is proving its usefulness in the real operations performed by these submarines.

July 2011

The Sainsel TNCWECDIS technology has contributed to the successful mission of the "Mistral" S-73 submarine in the "Unified Protector" operation in front of Libya. On 30th June 2011 the Mistral submarine returned to its base at Cartagena after a two months mission in Libya, in which its TNCWECDIS tactical navigation equipment, supplied by Sainsel, has proven once more its usefulness and strength in real operations. "Mistral" submarine entering into the Submarines Base at Cartagena returning from Libya (photo by the Spanish Navy) The Sainsel TNCWECDIS NAV/C2S equipping the Mistral submarine provides a quality view of the tactical scenario, contributing both to the security of navigation and to the tactical goals.
The data provided by the AIS transceiver -integrated by Sainsel in this system- when the submarine is navigating on surface or at periscope depth, significantly enriches the information content of that image, which is exported via CDROM or USB to be sent by radio to the mission command. Because of these capacities, the S70 series submarines stand out from other submarines, and are highly valuated in the performance of their missions in the "Unified Protector" operation of naval blockade at Libya. TNCWECDIS NAV/C2
On one hand a MiniWECDIS AX-10S, which is installed in the sail of the "Mistral", allows controlling the submarine navigation, when it navigates at the surface, in the best conditions during the day as well as during the night. The equipment uses official nautical digital cartography together with the information of the navigation sensors aboard (GPS, giro and speed log) and AIS, and all of these are integrated by an ECID navigation application that has been certified according to IMO standards. The Mistral submarine is one of the unique submarines that currently have such a support in the sail, allowing that the navigation officer and the commander have in situ – by direct observation –all the information of the tactical scenario integrated over an official nautical digital cartography. MiniWECDIS AX-10S at the sail of the "Mistral"
According to reports of "Mistral" crew, and after more than one year of operation, The MiniWECDIS AX- 10S is of great help for the accurate navigation or when navigating under low visibility conditions, providing also a backup function for the main TNCWECDIS aboard. MiniWECDIS AX-10S (TNCWECDIS and MiniWECDIS are Sainsel registered trademarks)

July 2011

Sainsel undertakes a modernization plan of the WECDIS TACTICAL NAVIGATION SYSTEM at the F100 frigates of the Spanish Navy. After several years using the WECDIS NAV/C2 aboard of the major ships of the Spanish Navy, the time has come of modernization aiming to take them to the state-of-art of the technology namely the NAV/C2P configuration with modular architecture to facilitate its integration with the bridge console in a ship. A superb 23'' FS23 display with high brightness that can be regulated to zero level and with retro-lighting by leds, which has been specifically developed by Sainsel for these systems, provides the best image quality currently achievable. A robust commands panel lodges a set of components, keyboard with adjustable retro-lighting, trackball, CDROM, USB connection and speakers, with and ergonomic disposition that facilitates the interaction with the system in all the lighting situations that can happen in the bridge of a ship.   WECDIS NAV/C2P in the bridge of the F103 frigate. The WECDIS NAV/C2P incorporates the latest improvements in processors which give it the best process capacity nowadays, adding absolute real time in the response to all the actions from the operator, including the most demanding ones such as the charts upload. A new version of the WECDIS application adds a large number of new capacities to address the requisites set by the IMO for this kind of systems in the latest revision of the standards for the ECDIS systems. In short a modernization undertaken by Sainsel to bring again the tactical navigation system of these magnificent ships of the Spanish Navy, built by Navantia, to the highest international ranking.

 

June 2011

Sainsel equips the first Spanish ship equipped with the "AIS tracks downlink" capacity. The Santa María frigate is the first ship in the Spanish Navy equipped with the "AIS downlink" capacity implemented by Sainsel. When working in combination with the associated helicopter, this capacity enables the automated reception of the AIS tracks that the helicopter detects while being in the air, into the frigate aboard WECDIS by means of an exclusively safe AIS connection.   Usage of the function "AIS tracks downlink" by the Santa María frigate. This capacity will imply a significant improvement in the surveillance tasks for the fight against piracy that the Santa María frigate performs together with the helicopters of the Décima Escuadrilla under the Atalanta operation, increasing its effectiveness and decreasing the effort needed for the targets identification by the ensemble ship-helicopter.

 

JANUARY 2011

Development completed of the new family of Sainsel WCONAM PMC+ consoles (WCONAM is a registered trademark of Sainsel Sistemas Navales SAU) The evolution in technology as well as the permanent process to improve the products that Sainsel supplies to customers have taken Sainsel to develop a new family of consoles branded WCONAM PMC+. These consoles will initially equip the platform control systems of the Spanish Navy F105 frigate and the three Australian Navy HOBART Class Air Warfare Destroyers currently under construction. The WCONAM PMC+ consoles come in two versions with one or with two monitors. They are high quality equipments with robust chassis designed to fulfil the environmental and electromagnetic compatibility requisites as well as the ergonomic and practical aspects that facilitate their maintenance.
A set of high performance man/machine interface elements that includes TFT monitors with 1600x1200 resolution, a large dimensions trackball unit integrated in the commands panel, alphanumeric keyboard, a PTT terminal – connector for headphones – of internal communications system and ‘sound power telephones’ connector-selector, controls for audio volume and for brightness of the elements in the commands panel. All of them distributed with ergonomic criteria.   The console is equipped with a set of protections that assure a safe operation such as (over) temperature detectors and elements for automatic power switch off when the inner temperature exceeds the safety threshold. These protections can be inhibited by means of the corresponding “Battle Short” push button.     To prevent external power cuts the console has an internal UPS that can assure the equipment operation up to 15 minutes in case of external power failure. As a safety mean the operator can use the UPS bypass switch that allows the console to function without using the UPS as needed.
Different configurations of PC technology state-of-the-art processors can be lodged within these consoles as they have a shock absorbing platform that assures an environment protected against vibration and shock. The console includes a set of local area network interfaces of fibber optics and of copper as well as resources for IP video encoding.

JANUARY 2011

The training ship “Juan Sebastián Elcano” begins 2011 nautical year equipped with a WECDIS Navigation System that has been fully renovated by Sainsel. On 8th January 2010, after the usual farewell ceremony, the “Juan Sebastián Elcano” made its departure from Cádiz harbour starting its annual nautical journey that during this year will take it though the Mediterranean Sea and the Northern European seas. Before departure Sainsel has renovated the WECDIS Navigation System that installed in this ship five years ago. This system has been completely reviewed and updated replacing the two NAV/C2 consoles that were equipping it by other new ones that have much more powerful hardware and the latest software updates, as well as other equipments such us the Navtex receptor. This maintenance action is another proof of the integral maintenance activities that are regularly performed by Sainsel for the equipments/systems supplied by Sainsel to the Spanish Navy.   “Juan Sebastián Elcano” ship entering Cádiz harbour before its departure.

JANUARY 2011

On 4th January 2011 Sainsel completed the activities to integrate the Opctronic System in the Combat System at the four Spanish Navy modernized frigates of the Santa María class.

In the framework of a collaborative project that has been implemented last year by the Spanish Navy CPT/CIA, Sainsel and Tecnobit, the SEOS optronic system (provided by Tecnobit) has been integrated in the Combat System of the four Spanish Navy modernized frigates of the Santa María class namely: “Reina Sofía”, “Victoria”, “Numancia” y “Santa María”.    As result a of this integration the ships currently have the capacity of the full control of the SEOS cameras by the operators of the Combat System Consoles, who can also perform tracks designation and tracking over the video image provided by these cameras.   Sainsel has supplied both the MC-77S processor and the application running on it which are the integrating elements among SEOS, the central UYK43 computer and the Combat System CONAM-C&Dr consoles. The integration has also included the implementation at the Combat System CONAM-C&Dr consoles of the corresponding Man/Machine Interface components that are needed to allow (a) the SEOS cameras control from their side commands panel (TSDL) and (b) the tracks designation implemented at the relevant array of the Combat System function keys within their central commands panel (TSDC).    The project also allowed the integration in the Combat System of the navigation data that are available at the aboard WECDIS Tactical Navigation System supplied by Sainsel. Dada about position (DGPS), course (gyroscopic), speed (log), wind, depth and AIS tracks are delivered to the UYK43 computer using the same connection CONAM C&Dr – MC77S processor – UYK43 computer, which enhances the capabilities of the Combat System.  The tactical functionality of this integration has been jointly designed and implemented with the Spanish Navy CPT/CIA that has been in charge of the technical management of this program, performing the developing of the corresponding application software module that runs in the central computer of the UYK43 Combat System.  This integration represents an enhancement of the already outstanding outcome achieved by the modernization process in which these Spanish Navy ships have been involved until very recent times, indeed bringing a significant improvement of their operative capabilities.

 

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