iXBlue Octans User manual

O CTA N S
5th generation
User Manual

OCTANS – User Manual
MU-OCTANS-AN-020 Ed. D – November 2015
1
Document Revision History
Edition Date Comments
A 03/2015 First Edition
B 04/2015 Certification chapter updated. Repeater connector pinout updated.
C 09/2015 Certification and outputs sections updated
D 11/2015 Mechanical figure updated

OCTANS – User Manual
MU-OCTANS-AN-020 Ed. D – November 2015
2
Copyright
All rights reserved. No part of this guide may be reproduced or transmitted, in any form or
by any means, whether electronic, printed guide or otherwise, including but not limited to
photocopying, recording or information storage and retrieval systems, for any purpose
without prior written permission of iXBlue.
Disclaimer
iXBlue specifically disclaims all warranties, either express or implied, included but not
limited to implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose with
respect to this product and documentation. iXBlue reserves the right to revise or make
changes or improvements to this product or documentation at any time without notify any
person of such revision or improvements.
In no event shall iXBlue be liable for any consequential or incidental damages, including
but not limited to loss of business profits or any commercial damages, arising out of the
use of this product.

OCTANS – User Manual
MU-OCTANS-AN-020 Ed. D – November 2015
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Text Usage
bold
Bold text is used for items you must select or click in the
software. It is also used for the field names used into the dialog
box.
Courier
Text in this font denotes text or characters that you should enter
from the keyboard, the proper names of disk Drives, paths,
directories, programs, functions, filenames and extensions.
italic
Italic text is the result of an action in the procedures.
Icons
The Note icon indicates that the following information is of interest to the operator and
should be read.
The Caution icon indicates that the following information should be read to forbid or
prevent product damage.
The Warning icon indicates that possible personal injury or death could result from failure
to follow the provided recommendation.
Abbreviations and Acronyms
Abbreviations and acronyms are described in the document Inertial Products - Principle &
Conventions (Ref.: MU-INS&AHRS-AN-003).

OCTANS – User Manual
MU-OCTANS-AN-020 Ed. D – November 2015
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Table of Contents
1INTRODUCTION.............................................................................................................. 5
2PRODUCT DOCUMENTATION .......................................................................................... 6
3VERIFICATION OF PACK CONTENTS................................................................................ 8
4CERTIFICATION ............................................................................................................. 9
5MECHANICAL SPECIFICATIONS..................................................................................... 10
5.1 OCTANS MECHANICAL ALIGNMENT..........................................................................................10
5.2 OCTANS CENTER OF MEASUREMENT.......................................................................................10
6ELECTRICAL INTERFACE SPECIFICATION ...................................................................... 13
6.1 GENERAL OVERVIEW.................................................................................................................13
6.1.1 Outputs...............................................................................................................................13
6.1.2 Inputs .................................................................................................................................14
6.2 DESCRIPTION OF THE CONNECTOR PANEL .................................................................................14
6.3 LISTING OF INTERFACES ............................................................................................................15
6.4POWER SUPPLY CONNECTOR....................................................................................................16
6.5 REPEATER AND CONFIGURATION CONNECTOR ...........................................................................17
6.6 DIGITAL CONNECTOR ................................................................................................................18
6.6.1 Digital Connector Pin Out ..................................................................................................18
6.6.2 Definition of the 2 Inputs and 3 Outputs in RS232 Format................................................20
6.6.3 Definition of the 2 Inputs and 3 Outputs in RS422 Format................................................20
6.6.4 Definition of the 4 Pulse Inputs and 2 Pulse Outputs ........................................................21
6.6.5 Definition of the Configuration and Repeater I/O Signal....................................................22
6.7 ETHERNET CONNECTOR ............................................................................................................23
6.8 RECOMMENDED WIRINGS ..........................................................................................................24
6.9 SPECIFICATIONS FOR COMMUNICATION BETWEEN OCTANS &PC.................................................27

OCTANS – User Manual
MU-OCTANS-AN-020 Ed. D – November 2015
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1 INTRODUCTION
This document is the OCTANS User Manual. It provides information on OCTANS
specifications, mechanical and electrical interfaces.
OCTANS is both a fiber-optic survey-grade IMO-certified gyrocompass and a Motion
Reference Unit for marine applications. OCTANS provides true-heading, roll, pitch, yaw,
heave, surge, sway, rates of turn and accelerations even in highly volatile environments.
•GPS
•Speed log
OCTANS can output two distinct heave measurements:
•Real Time Heave which provides heave in real time mode.
•Smart HeaveTM which provides a measurement of heave with a 100s fix delay.
To avoid the effect of transient vehicle/vessel movement on heave measurement, you can
define the position of the center of gravity (COG) of the vehicle/vessel. In this case,
OCTANS will compute heave at the COG and add the heave induced by lever arms from
the COG to external monitoring points. For more details see:
•Inertial Products – Application Note - Installation and Configuration of AHRS and INS
for Seabed Mapping Measurements (Ref.: MU-HEAVAPN-AN-001)
•Inertial Products – Web-based Interface User Guide (ref.:MU-INSIII-AN-021)
Your OCTANS internal clock can be synchronized with data coming from an external
reference clock (e.g. GPS clock). In this case, time is synchronized with input coming from
the selected interface with appropriate protocol.
For more details see Inertial Products – Web-based Interface User Guide (ref.:MU-INSIII-
AN-021).
To maintain the product watertightness and EMC specification (see Technical
Specifications for level applicable to your product), it is mandatory to use the provided
connectors and adequate cables. If connector is not used, then it must be
protected/closed with the supplied screwed dummy plugs.
Do not expose to water or humidity if an “office type” Ethernet connector is directly
plugged into OCTANS, use instead, the provided Ethernet connector with its backshell.
When applicable (i.e. IMO Product), OCTANS unit complies with the requirements of the
IEC 60945 standard, including §4.5: interference. As recommended in §4.5.3 - Compass
Safe distance, the minimum safe distance at which OCTANS shall be mounted from a
standard or a steering magnetic compass is 5 meters.
Supported
sensors
Heave
measurement/
Center of
Gravity of the
vehicle (COG)
UTC/Time
synchro
Waterproof and
Electroma-
gnetic
Compatibility
consideration
Compass safe
distance

OCTANS – User Manual
MU-OCTANS-AN-020 Ed. D – November 2015
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2 PRODUCT DOCUMENTATION
Your OCTANS belongs to the family of the iXBlue inertial products. The following
documents are useful to use the best way your product.
•This OCTANS User Manual gives information about:
Mechanical Specifications
Electrical Interface Specifications (included recommended wiring)
Certification
•OCTANS Technical Specifications (Ref.: IPD-00756A_VEN_OCTANS_SPE)
gives all technical specifications about the product
•Inertial Products – General Information (Ref.: MU-INS&AHRS-AN-007)
gives information about:
Export Regulation
Warranty
Customer Support
Contacts
•Inertial Products – Principle & Conventions (Ref.: MU-INS&AHRS-AN-003) gives
information about:
Abbreviations
Terminology
Behavior and operation principles
−Fiber Optical Gyroscopes description
−Alignment principle
Geometrical conventions
•Inertial Products – Installation Form (Ref.: MU-INS&AHRS-AN-004): this document
is a link between the installation process and the configuration process. It contains
empty tables to fill in.
•Inertial Products – Network Set-up Guide (Ref.: MU-INS&AHRS-AN-005) gives
information about network configurations.
•Inertial Products – Web-based Interface User Guide (Ref.: MU–INSIII-AN-021) gives
information about:
how to perform the software configuration of the product (which sensor is
connected, on which port, …)
operation: how to use the product
•AHRS – Interface Library (Ref.: MU-AHRS-AN-003)gives information about all the
protocols that your product can use.
•AHRS – Advanced Configuration (Ref. MU-AHRS-AN-002): this document gives all
the configuration and monitoring commands which can be used during operation.
These commands are sent directly through the repeater port.
•Inertial Products – System Updater Tool User Guide (Ref.: MU-UPDTAPN-AN-001)
•Inertial Products – IP Data Logger Tool User Guide (Ref.: MU-IPDATAPN-AN-001)

OCTANS – User Manual
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•Depending of the use of your product, the following Application Notes can be useful
for the product installation:
Inertial Products – Application Note – Installation and Configuration of AHRS
and INS for Seabed Mapping Measurements (Ref.: MU-HEAVAPN-AN-001)
Inertial Products – Application Note – Mechanical Integration of Inertial
Systems (Ref.: MU-MECHAPN-AN-001)

OCTANS – User Manual
MU-OCTANS-AN-020 Ed. D – November 2015
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3 VERIFICATION OF PACK CONTENTS
You will find in the shipping case a Packing List detailing all the items delivered.
This Packing List has been completed and checked by iXBlue before shipment, and
should match the contents of the pack you have received.
However, we recommend checking the contents of the pack with the packing list
document immediately after reception.
Specifically, you should check that all the items are present on delivery and that none has
sustained damage.
If you observe any non-conformity or damage, please inform the carrier and iXBlue
without delay by certified mail, describing in detail the problem encountered.