The AN/WSN-2; A New Gyrocompass for a Modern U. S. Navy

Abstract

The development of this fully Mil–qualified stabilized gyrocompass equipment provides a major advancement in military marine navigation. All of the functions of the preceding generation of equipment have been placed into a single–unit, light weight, low–volume console that features the high reliability of solid–state digital electronics and a complete modular insertion maintenance philosophy. Featuring almost twice the precision of the predecessor equipment, this unit meets the needs of a modern Navy, which includes minimum crew/support skill requirements, low life cycle costs and, most important, an adaptable built–in–growth–capability design. The development background of the AN/WSN–2 is discussed in terms of differences and comparisons between conventional marine gyrocompasses versus stabilized marine gyrocompasses and ship's inertial navigators. This is done from a design and operational point of view as well as from a performance/theoretical point of view. In particular the inertial unit of the AN/WSN–2, including the long–life, precision, gas–spin–bearing gyroscope, is the same production equipment currently being used in several thousand airborne inertial navigators manufactured by Litton. Thus a key advantage to the Navy is the fact that this stabilized gyrocompass equipment has gone through a maturation cycle as an inertial navigation system before its selection by the Navy as the new generation stabilized gyrocompass. The AN/WSN–2 is fully described in terms of its system mechanization and physical implementation. Data and analysis of the performance of the AN/WSN–2 demonstrate its ability to meet SHIPS–G–5683, the new stabilized gyrocompass specification generated by the Navy for this equipment.