The Compass Enters the Fiber-Optic Era | The "Blue Sun" Fiber-Optic Compass Attracts Great Attention at the Guangzhou Maritime Exhibition

From July 26 to 28, the 10th Guangzhou International Maritime Exhibition 2023 was successfully held at the Poly World Trade Center in Guangzhou. The flagship forum of the maritime exhibition—the “4th China Shipbuilding Industry Transformation and Upgrading High-Quality Development Forum 2023”—also came to a successful conclusion. The forum invited nearly 50 industry guests to engage in discussions and exchanges, focusing on current hot topics in the shipbuilding and maritime sectors, thereby promoting the transformation and upgrading of the shipbuilding industry, fostering industrial integration, enhancing the core competitiveness of the shipbuilding industry, and writing a new chapter for high-quality development in the shipbuilding industry.

China Shipbuilding Group’s subsidiary, CSSC Navigation, participated in this event and attended the “First Guangdong Shipping Technology Forum 2023.” During the forum, Qin Fei, Project Director and Product Manager of the Optical Inertial Navigation Department, delivered a keynote speech titled “The Compass Enters the Fiber Optic Era.”

Qin Fei stated that Zhongchuan Navigation is the birthplace of China's traditional marine gyrocompasses and also a pioneer in the fiber-optic compass industry. The "Blue Sun" series of fiber-optic compasses represent a new generation of marine fiber-optic gyrocompasses independently developed in recent years, leveraging the advantages of the local fiber-optic communication industry cluster. These compasses feature short startup times, high heading accuracy, maintenance-free operation throughout their entire lifecycle, and the ability to provide ship attitude information.

The next-generation fiber-optic gyrocompass is a fully solid-state, optomechanical fiber-optic gyroscope. Both it and traditional gyrocompasses comply with the same testing standards and have gained widespread recognition from classification societies both domestically and internationally. It addresses the technical challenges inherent in conventional mechanical gyrocompasses, marking a significant leap forward in communication and navigation technology. After decades of industrial development, the product’s technology has become remarkably mature—much like the evolution from “mechanical watches” to “smartwatches.”

Currently, CSSC Navigation’s “Blue Sun” fiber-optic gyrocompass has obtained certification from both CCS and DNV classification societies. The company has established over 50 global service centers, covering more than 100 major international ports, and has installed over 300 sets of these gyrocompasses—placing it far ahead of its competitors in the domestic market. According to feedback from installed users, the “Blue Sun” fiber-optic gyrocompass features a short startup time, stable performance over long periods of operation, and requires no maintenance throughout its entire lifecycle. This significantly reduces shipowners’ management and operational costs, enabling the gyrocompass to better safeguard and support ocean-going vessels and deliver more professional, high-quality services.

At the event, the “Blue Sun” fiber-optic gyrocompass booth attracted attention from numerous guests, including shipowners, ship management companies, and marine engineers. They expressed recognition and high expectations for the new-generation fiber-optic gyrocompass in the shipping market, hoping to jointly contribute to the cause of green and safe shipping, expand the blue ocean space, and achieve high-quality development of the shipbuilding industry.

CSSC Navigation will continue to uphold the core values of “customer first, innovation and progress, collaboration and efficiency, and responsibility and commitment,” putting the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party into practice through concrete actions and wholeheartedly making outstanding contributions to the maritime industry.