Last summer, in my blog, I raised the topic of comparing Russian and American navigators used by the military departments of the two countries. After a while, the developers of the Russian navigator came to me and offered to show their brainchild and tell about it in more detail.
In the photo above, there are two GLONASS / GPS navigators of OJSC "Research Institute of Space Instrumentation": on the right - the equipment of the previous generation 14C822 "Groot-M", on the left - a new sample, which has the same name as the previous one - "Groot-M", but is the deepest modernization of the younger brother.
The first "Grotto", released in 2003, is in service with the Russian army, as well as a number of African and Latin American countries (the navigator menu has English, French and Spanish localizations) and produced about 10,000 copies. In our armed forces, it is used mainly by commanders of artillery units, reconnaissance, mountain riflemen and special forces. According to the state, it is supposed to have it in a motorized rifle battalion, as well as in company tactical groups operating in isolation from the main forces.
The body of the navigator is made of a single block of aluminum by milling, which determined the high strength of the product, but at the same time made it significantly heavier (the weight of the device was 800 grams). Since the device was originally intended only for determining coordinates and solving problems in artillery, it received a small screen and did not support displaying maps. For the convenience of working in severe frost, when hands are in gloves, the navigator was equipped with large buttons, which were very popular with the end users - the military
The set included two batteries, which, due to the design features, lengthened the case up to 25 cm
Since time does not stand still and technologies are moving forward, the company proactively carried out a deep modernization of the navigator, which actually led to the creation of a completely new device, but under the same name - "Grot-M". The product received a new 32-bit ARM processor, a large color display with a resolution of 320x240. The buttons have been moved to the upper part of the navigator, because it is with this arrangement that the device is most comfortable in the hand and pressing the buttons is most comfortable.
The touchscreen display was abandoned. in cold climates and gloved hands, it is simply useless.
The case has become plastic, the power supplies have found a different arrangement.
Used lithium-polymer batteries 2500 mAh of French production, tk. domestic manufacturers of batteries explained that they are very busy with orders and will not be able to deliver their products earlier than in a few years
The navigator can also operate on one battery pack, but then its operating time is reduced. When the air temperature is above zero degrees, the navigator works for about 18 hours continuously, at the lowest possible temperature for which it is designed (-30 degrees) - at least 12 hours.
In addition to battery packs, the product can also operate on conventional AA batteries
The navigator can withstand being under water at a depth of 1 meter for 24 hours and can then work.
"Mainsail" can be connected to low voltage networks (from 10 to 30 volts), which allows it to be charged from the on-board network of cars and armored vehicles. It is possible to charge the battery packs both in the device itself and in a separate charger.
At the time of communication with the developers (August 2011), the power consumption of the navigator, produced according to the 130 nm process technology, was 1.05-1.1 W (at the peak of operation up to 1.2 W), but now the website has updated data that it is not more than 1 W, which means that the expected transition to 110 nm process technology took place.
It should be noted that the power consumption of devices based on GLONASS will always be higher than similar devices based on GPS, since the domestic navigation system uses a wider spectrum of frequencies. A wide channel is harder to suppress by means of electronic warfare, but this plus is exchanged for a higher power consumption.
The navigator can work simultaneously with 32 satellites, which greatly improves the positioning accuracy. It (accuracy) depends on many factors (the number of satellites, the terrain, etc.) and for the "Grotto" is 10 m (mode of operation when interaction is only with satellites), which is comparable to similar indicators of the American military navigator DAGR. Differential mode is also implemented in the domestic navigator, which allows using base stations to increase positioning accuracy up to tens of centimeters.
"Grot-M" with an external navigation antenna. The antenna has a magnet and can be used when driving in a car
At the request of the customer, it is possible to install a slot for an SD-flash memory card, but the military has not yet asked for such a possibility. The internal memory of the device itself is 256 megabytes.
The favorite question of all readers was asked by me: "Whose production is the electronic component of the navigator?" The microcircuit was entirely developed at the enterprise, except for the processor core, which was purchased under license. The circuitry of the digital part, the topology are all domestic, but the physical manufacture is China, Taiwan. The installation of the board again takes place with us. Displays are also purchased abroad, as Belarusian developers (an alternative abroad) offer models with high power consumption, weight and cost.
The navigator allows you to record the route and show it in the background of the map. Maps, routes can be uploaded to and removed from the device via the USB interface (there is only one port for USB, RS-232 and RS-485, a splitter is included in the kit). The product comes with software that allows the end user to interface the navigator with Linux and Windows operating systems. It is assumed that, if desired, the user will be able to install any cards from third-party developers into the "Grotto" using a special converter from the software package.
The navigator can solve service tasks that are necessary for the needs of the gunners:
- according to the given coordinates, distance and azimuth, the coordinates of the point to be fired are determined;
- for the given two pairs of coordinates, the distance and azimuth between them is determined;
- by the coordinates of two points and the angle between them, the coordinates of the third point are determined;
- measurement of the directional angle, etc.
It is possible to convert longitude and latitude to Gauss-Kruger coordinates and vice versa.
Example navigator menu
At the moment, the Scientific Research Institute of Space Instrument Engineering is proactively developing a new model of the navigator, which should replace the wearable "Groot-M" and the portable model 14C821 "Groot-V", which is now used on armored vehicles of the Russian armed forces.
