Olex Spatial All-in-One Sensor

Olex

Spatial is a small position and attitude sensor from Advanced Navigation in Australia, that can be used with Atec, Wassp, HGPS etc. It combines accelerometers with GPS and magnetic compass, and provides pitch, roll, heave, heading, position, course and speed. A complete Atec system may consist of Olex with ATEC and HT software, Atec multibeam sonar, and just Spatial. Spatial promises 0.1 degrees accuracy in pitch and roll, 0.8 degrees in heading, and 5 cm or 5% in heave. A sound and well-calibrated install is crucial.

Mounting
The sensor should be mounted close to vessel CG and its antenna must have a clear sky view. A practical site may be low in the wheelhouse, with the antenna outside. Avoid magnetic influences like engines, motors, power cables etc. Normal mounting is on top of a horizontal plate, with cables pointing forward. Other orientations may be used, provided they are specified in the PC config software. If the included GPS cable proves too short, other cables and active antennas may be used. For example a Trimble antenna on a 10m RG58 with SMA adapter. The sensor has 4 mounting holes for M2 bolts. Typically, it is mounted on a small plate, which is then fastened to the boat using three larger screws. Plate and screws are not included.

Power is 5-36 VDC, nominally 24 VDC.

Calibration
After mounting, the PC config software should be used to configure GPS antenna XYZ relative to the sensor. It should also be used to perform the one-time magnetic calibration, which entail sailing the boat through a 450 degrees turn.

The software may also be used to modify other settings, like baudrates and data formats. We have configured Spatial to send GPS and heading on the Auxiliary cable, and attitude as TSS1 on the GPIO cable. The Primary cable is used to communicate with the config software, and is not normally connected.