SCIENCE

KVH Industries has announced a new $1.1 million contract award for its high-performance fiber optic gyros (FOGs) for use in the Javelin Basic Skills Trainer (BST) produced by a leading U.S. defense contractor. The BST is used by the U.S. Army to train soldiers to operate the Javelin anti-tank missile system. KVH's FOGs precisely measure the shoulder-fired BST's movement, and allow the system's computer to synchronize that movement with the digital imagery scenario being shown on the simulator's viewfinder.

"In the Javelin BST, KVH's solid state, all-fiber FOGs measure angular rotation precisely and then deliver high-speed data to the simulator's computer, enabling the BST to provide the trainee with a very realistic and accurate user experience," said Jay Napoli, KVH's vice president of FOG/OEM sales. He noted, "KVH precision FOGs offer cost-effective solutions for an ever-expanding number of optical and image stabilization applications, including mobile mapping, dynamic surveying, gimbaled cameras, autonomous vehicles, underwater remote-controlled vehicles, and more."

The Javelin BST operator holds the trainer while viewing digitized images and scenarios through a color LCD display embedded in the simulator's viewfinder. In addition to the accuracy of the virtual reality display in response to data provided by KVH FOGs, the BST has switches and controls that perform as they would on the actual weapon to provide the most realistic training experience. Like many of the military's modern weapons systems that use expensive missiles, training with simulators is the only practical and cost-effective way for military personnel to gain the necessary experience. Soldiers can become completely proficient with the Javelin system without incurring the costs of actually firing the missiles on a practice range. The Javelin BST is designed to take advantage of the best commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) technology to provide more cost-effective operator training.

KVH's fiber optic guidance and sensor systems are used in an array of commercial and defense-related stabilization, navigation, autonomous vehicle, and precision guidance applications.