Ellipse Purchasing Guide

The Ellipse Series is a field proven line of industrial-grade inertial sensors known for their high level robustness.

It exists in multiple variants, from the an AHRS for Orientation and attitude to a full fledged dual-antenna INS with built-in RTK GNSS Receiver.

This page details the different variant of the products to help you select the best Ellipse, cables, and antennas for your application. Our sales and support team remain at your disposal to guide you further.

Common features across all Ellipse products

Sensors

All the Ellipse products embed:

• A MEMS 3-axis accelerometer individually calibrated on the entire operating temperature range (-40°C to +85°C)
• A MEMS 3-axis gyroscope individually calibrated on the entire operating temperature range (-40°C to +85°C)
• A MEMS 3-axis magnetometer individually calibrated on the entire operating temperature range (-40°C to +85°C)
• A barometer

Aidings

All the Ellipse products can accept multiple aidings:

• GNSS aiding
  • All Ellipse INS (E/N/D) can accept an external GNSS aiding.
  • Some Ellipse INS have a built-in dual frequency, all constellations, built-in GNSS: Ellipse-N and Ellipse-D
• External Odometer aiding
• External DVL aiding
• Airdata, either:
  • Internal barometer
  • External airdata from a pitot tube (or equivalent sensor). Note: this feature requires specific validation for external sensors. Please get in touch with us for more details.

GNSS aided AHRS

The Ellipse AHRS (Ellipse-A) cannot accept external GNSS aiding for the computation of the heading: the only source of heading it can use is the built-in magnetometer.

If you need a GNSS aided AHRS, you can use an INS, either with Built-in GNSS (Ellipse-N or Ellipse-D) or external GNSS (Ellipse-E).

Inputs/output

The data are available through multiple Input/Output ports.

However all Ellipse include a minimum of:

• 1x serial Input / Output port
• 2x Sync in ports
• 1x Sync out port

The parameters to consider when selecting an Ellipse

Form factor

The Ellipse comes in 2 different packaging options:

• The Ellipse Boxed: a rugged, IP68 rated enclosure, with easy-to-use serial connectors
• The Ellipse OEM: a board mounted OEM variant, with LvTTL connectivity. While lighter, and offering more ports than the Boxed version, it requires a specific integration and is designed for OEM integrations.

GNSS and filtering

There are 4 different versions of the Ellipse with different levels of features linked to the GNSS:

• Ellipse-A (AHRS): provides attitude (Roll/Pitch/Heading), but doesn't provide position
• Ellipse-E (INS with External GNSS): requires an external GNSS receiver to provide position, velocity, time and attitude (Roll/Pitch/Heading).
• Ellipse-N (INS with single antenna GNSS): includes a single antenna, dual frequency, full constellation, RTK compatible GNSS receiver to provide position, velocity, time and attitude (Roll/Pitch/Heading).
• Ellipse-D (INS with dual antenna GNSS): includes a dual antenna, dual frequency, full constellation, RTK compatible GNSS receiver to provide position, velocity, time and attitude (Roll/Pitch/Heading).

Selecting a Dual or Single Antenna INS

The second antenna allows to obtain a heading even in static or low dynamic applications.

If your application is high dynamic (such as UAV) the Ellipse-N will work perfectly. For applications with low dynamic (such as marine, train etc...) the Ellipse-D will be needed.

If you are unsure if you need single or dual antenna for your application, please get in touch with our sales or support team.

Heave calculation and measurement range

All Ellipse are available in 3 variants, with different set of features linked to heave measurement, and a different operating range:

• The version for Hydrography (called Marine version)
• The High-dynamics version
• The general purpose version (called Land/Air version)

The features and measurement range of the 3 versions are the following:

The Land/Air version can be used for Maritime applications that do not need the Heave measurement.

Also note that if you integrate with an existing system that needs the SHIP_MOTION message even in a Land/Air application, you will need to select the Marine version.

Connectivity

Depending on the form factor (Boxed or OEM) and the different Ellipse version (A/E/N/D), you select different ports and options may be available.

The special case of Ellipse-E

The Elllipse-E is an INS that doesn't include a built-in GNSS receiver. To be able to connect an external GNSS but keep sufficient Input/Outputs for other uses, it includes extra ports as can be seen in the table below.

Selecting the right Ellipse

Considering all the options mentioned below, there is a total of 36 different versions of Ellipse (24 Ellipse Boxed and 12 Ellipse OEM).

Our sales team will guide you to find the best Part Number for you, however to make it as fast as possible, please make sure you include in your request:

• The form factor you target (Boxed/OEM)
• The model you want (AHRS, External GNSS, Built-in single Antenna, or Built-in Dual antenna)
• The type of connectivity you need: either 2xRS232/1x RS422 or CAN (except for Ellipse-E)
• Whether you need heave measurement or not
• The family of application you have (to distinguish whether we need Marine, Land/Air or High Dynamics variant)

With all these information we'll be able to easily tell you which version of the Ellipse you should select! You can also check the Hardware Code list for the complete list.

Accessories

Once you have selected the Ellipse model you want, we'll need to provide you with the needed accessories to get started.

To operate the sensor, you will need:

• The right cables
• The right GNSS antenna(s)
• A development board for OEM units

Input / Output Cables

The following cables are available for Ellipse Boxed versions.

Development board for Ellipse OEM

A development board has been specifically created to start the integration of an Ellipse OEM.

This development board lets you access all the interfaces of the Ellipse OEM sensor through either standard connectors (USB, DB-9) or TTL connectivity.

The full documentation is available freely on our site.

The purchase of a Development board is mandatory for the first purchase of an Ellipse OEM.

Antennas and antenna cables

The following antennas are recommended for use with an Ellipse.

Dual Antennas

When using dual antenna setup, make sure you select the same antenna, and check our handbooks on the best setup for the dual antenna.