Hydrographic Services

iXblue Equips Ifremer's New 6000m AUV

;s AUV design perfectly. Successful former experience with Echoes 5 000 will be reconducted with the upcoming, optimized new generation release of the sub-bottom profiler.”“We are very excited to be onboard the CORAL project and to offer turnkey SAS technology to Ifremer scientific and hydrographic surveyors,” states Lionel Fauré, technical and business Manager of iXblue Sonar Systems Division. With extended expertise in combining sonar, inertial navigation and acoustic positioning technologies, iXblue has developed one of the most advanced and accurate solutions for seabed

Swathe Services Takes Delivery of SBG Ekinox Navsight INS

Swathe Services has recently added the SBG Ekinox Navsight to its equipment demo pool. After trials on manned and unmanned vessels operating under bridges, in harbors and offshore for hydrographic applications, the performance of the Ekinox Inertial Navigation System (INS) has been exceptional, the company reports.Its small compact subsea form factor and weight makes this system light and easy to install with portable sonar systems. It is suited for shallow water applications and comes at a good price, the manufacturer says.James Williams, Managing Director at Swathe, says, "Since we became the

UKHO Taps Sparkes as Acting Chief Executive

The U.K. Hydrographic Office has announced the appointment of Rear Admiral Peter Sparkes, the current U.K. National Hydrographer and Deputy Chief Executive, to the position of acting chief executive and accounting officer.Sparkes will hold the position while a permanent replacement is sought for Tim Lowe CBE, the previous UKHO chief executive and accounting officer, who announced his retirement Friday.Commenting on Lowe’s retirement, Sparkes said, “On behalf of the senior leadership team and all at the U.K. Hydrographic Office, I want to acknowledge and thank Tim for the significant

Geo Plus Takes Delivery of New Survey Vessel

Dutch shipbuilder Royal Niestern Sander has delivered the hydrographic survey vessel ‘Geo Ranger’ to Geo Plus, after 14 months of constructing, installing, commissioning and testing.The vessel last month successfully passed its sea trials on the river Ems.The ship was designed together with Conoship International BV and will be rented out by Geo Plus to parties that perform research, such as dredging companies and companies that build and maintain offshore wind farms. The 41 meters long, 8.7 meters wide  DP2 Geo Ranger is equipped with two high-class Azimuth stern thrusters and

Oceaneering Nets 3-year Inspection Services Contract with Chevron in Angola

Offshore and subsea services provider Oceaneering has secured a contract with Chevron's Angola subsidiary Cabinda Gulf Oil Company Limited (CABGOC)Under the three-year contract, Oceaneering's Asset Integrity division will provide inspection services onshore Cabinda, Angola, and offshore Angola on Blocks 0 and 14. The contract is scheduled to begin in Q2 2020.Oceaneering said that the contract award followed a recent contract win for inspection services for a major Middle East operator based in Dubai.Kishore Sundararajan, Senior Vice President, Asset Integrity Group, stated: “We are

USVs: A Solution for Inspecting Dams and Guarding Waterways

a family of MANTAS unmanned vessels built on a catamaran hull. Ameren Missouri selected a twelve-foot MANTAS for this underwater bathymetric imaging. For this task, the MANTAS was equipped with a Teledyne Reson T20 Multi-beam Echo-sounder/Sonar.(Photo: Jack Rowley)The objective of the Keokuk Dam hydrographic survey was to map and inspect underwater structures with an unmanned surface vehicle followed by the USV performing the survey of the upstream and downstream sections of the dam. The deliverable was a comprehensive, on-location hydrographic survey which further evolved into a complete high-resolution

For the Royal Australian Navy, Technological Leap Starts Small

ship in the class, HMAS Huon (M 82) will be 21 years old this May. The MHCs are slow and are not always available where and when they are needed. Furthermore, they need to enter mined areas to find the mines.  Captain Bryan Parker, the  RAN’s Commander Mine Warfare, Clearance Diving, Hydrographic, Meteorological, Oceanographic and Patrol Force (COMMHP), said the Task Group MCM capability aimed to provide a tactical capability essential to reducing the hazard of mines in the littoral maritime domain for Navy’s deployed Fleet, while also  minimizing direct exposure of its personnel

Rovco Opens Edinburgh Office

to the offshore energy industry has opened a new office and operational base in Edinburgh, Scotland to serve its current portfolio of offshore renewable and energy projects renewable and energy projects."Rovco aims to continue to support both the offshore wind and broader energy sector offering Hydrographic, Operations & Maintenance and Construction support services," the company said.The office will house its operational team, while there are also plans to find an East Coast Quayside location for deployment of Rovco's equipment and technology.“This Edinburgh office represents

Geo Ranger Survey Vessel Passes Sea Trials

The hydrographic survey vessel Geo Ranger has this week successfully passed sea trials on the river Ems, the Dutch Shipbuilder Royal Niestern Sander said Thursday."In presence of the client Geo Plus, surveyors of Bureau Veritas and various commissioning engineers of Kongsberg and Alewijnse, the capabilities of the vessel were tested thoroughly," the shipbuilder said.Royal Niestern Sander in April 2019 signed the contract to build the vessel with Geo Plus BV.After the start of construction in September 2019, the ship was transported early February from the construction hall to the quayside to

Picotech Launches USV and Integrated Multibeam Echosounder

with PicoPOD provides a turnkey multibeam package for autonomous multibeam surveys, with up to 13 hours endurance on one set of LiPos.The PicoMB130 is suitable for applications including marine engineering, site inspection, environmental monitoring, site clearance and underwater science as well as hydrographic surveying.Image: Picotec

A New Role for Service Providers Amidst Energy Upheaval

In today’s energy industry, things are moving fast. The upheaval brought about by COVID-19 and exacerbated by the Russia-Saudi Arabia oil price war has been so profound that the International Energy Agency (IEA) has described the situation as “a once in a century event for energy demand”. This is supported by current IEA predictions which suggest a 6% drop in global energy demand in 2020 – seven times worse than the plunge in demand that followed the 2008 recession.Amid what the IEA has dubbed a “dismal” year for fossil fuels, the one bright spot is the performance

Sonardyne Tests Autonomous Vehicles Navigation for UK MOD

is a 10,000 nautical mile-range vessel able to carry up to 2.5 metric tons of payload and deploy and recover autonomous underwater vehicles (AUV) and remotely operated vehicles (ROV). This capability, and flexibility, means it is well suited to support naval missions including intelligence gathering, hydrographic survey and as a communications gateway.Ioseba Tena, Global Business Manager, s and Marine Robotics at Sonardyne, says, “Most USVs rely on uninterrupted GPS or GNSS signal updates to inform their situational awareness and plot a course safely. When there’s no signal, or what’s

Dean Joins Teledyne CARIS

Teledyne CARIS welcomes Geoff Dean to the group as USA Sales Manager. In this role Dean will concentrate on expanding the reach of Teledyne CARIS software products, while using his in-depth industry experience to provide seamless service and support for existing clients.Dean will spearhead the continued expansion of Teledyne CARIS software especially in the ports, waterways and hydrographic survey markets in the U.S.

Rovco Expands ROV Fleet with Saab Seaeye Leopard Unit

Rovco, a company providing ROV and hydrographic services has expanded its ROV fleet with a Saab Seaeye Leopard ROV.The company said that the high-performance electric “Fast ROV” work-class platform increases Rovco’s service offering to support wind farm installation and maintenance projects throughout the lifecycle of subsea related tasks. Rovco said it aimed to serve its clients in areas such as construction support, seabed, cable and pipeline investigations, and intervention, "and this vehicle backs up the firm’s capability to deliver on its £15m+ pipeline of

Vice Adm. Badhwar Receives Alexander Dalrymple Award

of his outstanding contribution to Indian hydrography and across the wider Indian Ocean region.The Alexander Dalrymple Award was first awarded by the UKHO in 2006 and is named after the first Hydrographer of the Admiralty. Recipients of the award are selected by the Executive Committee of the UK Hydrographic Office (UKHO) for their efforts in raising the standards of hydrography, cartography and navigation around the world.Having joined the Indian Navy in 1982, Vice Admiral Badhwar has extensive hydrographic surveying experience. This includes work in the Gulfs of Kutch and Khambhat, and the Andaman

Hydrographic Survey Vessel to be Converted for Unmanned Operations

A hydrographic survey vessel will operate in multiple areas of the Wadden Sea, commanded from shore by personnel in an office in Amersterdam.U.S.-based Sea Machines Robotics, a developer of autonomous command and advanced perception systems, said Thursday that Dutch company Deep BV will equip one of its vessels with a Sea Machines SM300 autonomous control system to enable remote command of the vessel, including navigation and positioning, the control of on-board auxiliaries and sensors, and ship-to-shore data flow. Sea Machiens says its SM300 autonomy system shifts full-mission vessel control

Fugro Mapping Arctic Waters off Norway

The Norwegian Hydrographic Service has awarded Fugro another hydrographic survey contract as part of the MAREANO seabed mapping program, financed by Norway’s Ministry of Trade, Industry and Fisheries, and the Ministry of Environment.Fugro said it has already completed 10 surveys for the program since 2006 and acquired over 140,000 km2 of data. This latest survey will collect high-resolution, high-density multibeam echosounder and sub-bottom data to produce seamless datasets for the Norwegian mapping program. The fieldwork will run from June to late October this year.The survey area covers

New Depth Data Management System for Danish Hydrographic Office

implement a new depth data management system, including the CARIS Bathy DataBASE, migration tools, system configuration and implementation. The project also delivered a range of training and consultancy.The depth data management system from Teledyne CARIS, a Teledyne Technologies, provides the Danish Hydrographic Office efficient storage and management of depth data while supporting the current and future requirements, both internally and externally."DGA is a dynamic, data-centered, industry-leading agency that provides high resolution, quality data products. Their focus on automation for data storage

Drill Rig Noise: Entering the Exclusion Zone, Quietly

over via Wi-fi within the exclusion zone and an ability to set waypoints for navigation outside the zone. It would have a 10-20% cost saving over a survey vessel.”There is an emerging use of unmanned vessels in the upstream industry. Last year, USV operator XOCEAN used its vehicles to perform hydrographic, pipeline inspection and data gathering services, while L3Harris has been trialling deploying a remotely operated vehicle from one of its USVs. But, despite the emerging use and apparent benefit of unmanned systems, it can still be an uphill struggle to get operators to adopt this technology.

BMT Unveils Hull-form for Autonomous Operations

fuel consumption and increase its adaptability across multiple applications.Offering a myriad of applications for defense and commercial innovators, Pentamaran vessels may be custom configured for military, patrol, intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR), anti-submarine warfare (ASW) and hydrographic survey work.The Pentamaran has been designed to reduce drag as much as possible, with very slender central hull and two smaller hulls or ‘sponsons’ on either side. The sponsons are set one behind the other, and when the vessel is operating on flat water, the forward sponsons are not

Fugro, Sea-Kit in Uncrewed Surface Vessel Team-Up

, supporting international ambitions for zero global emissions in the marine industry.The first USVs will be launched before the end of this year, and a larger USV model is being designed for delivery in 2021. These inspection-related USVs are being developed alongside Fugro’s range of USVs for hydrographic data acquisition.Mark Heine, Chief Executive Officer at Fugro, said: “We are excited to be partnering with SEA-KIT International to develop a range of USVs that will transform the marine industry. Together with other strategic alliances, this partnership represents a major acceleration to

Research Vessel Atair to be Commissioned this Spring

A new liquefied natural gas (LNG) powered survey, wreck-search and research vessel built by German Naval Yards Kiel is currently undergoing installation and finishing works at Fassmer in Berne, Germany prior to being commissioned this spring.Ordered by the German Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency (BSH), the new research vessel will be homeported in Hamburg, replacing the previous Atair, which entered operation in 1987.At 75 meters long and roughly 17 meters wide, the new Atair will be the largest research vessel in the BSH fleet. It will also be the most technologically advanced and environmental

iXblue, ThayerMahan in Unmanned Surface Vessel Pact

.In a statement on Monday, the companies said that ThayerMahan’s expertise in maritime domain awareness, and iXblue’s Unmanned Surface Vessel (USV), would help both companies address a wide range of maritime and survey applications including offshore renewables, Oil & Gas, hydrographic surveys, ISR, as well as monitoring and tracking operations.ThayerMahan’s CEO, Mike Connor, stated, “We are thrilled to be working with iXblue in a number of areas.  Their creativity and design discipline combined to produce a rugged, long-endurance, unmanned surface vessel that

SBG Systems' INS Chosen for Shom Fleet

Shom, the French national hydrographic and oceanographic office selected SBG Systems’ inertial navigation sytems to renew their whole fleet of INS. They chose Navsight Apogee INS for their speedboats and survey vessels for both shallow and deep-water real-time bathymetric surveys and Qinertia PPK software for post-processing tasks.Shom has 3 major objectives: national hydrography and cartography, defense support in hydro-oceanographic fields, and support in maritime geospatial products and services for public policies on the sea and the coast. The fleet used by Shom is based in Brest and is

Survey Vessel Launched for Geo Plus

Dutch shipbuilder Royal Niestern Sander said it has launched a new vessel currently under construction for hydrographic survey firm Geo Plus BV. The newbuild, to be named Geo Ranger, is due to be christened and delivered this summer.The contract for the construction of the hydrographic research vessel Geo Ranger was signed by the builder and Geo Plus in April 2019.After the start of construction in September 2019, the ship was transported in early February from the construction hall to the quay side to prepare for the launch, which took place on March 7.The ship (yard number 864) was designed together

Trimble Outfits New Teledyne Unmanned Survey Vessel

heading receiver and is compatible with Trimble Marine Construction (TMC) software, enabling marine construction/dredging projects to be monitored in real time anywhere in the world.THE TELEDYNE Z-BOATTM 1800-T, designed and manufactured by Teledyne Oceanscience, is a high-resolution shallow water hydrographic unmanned survey vehicle with the newly released Odom Hydrographic Echotrac E20 Singlebeam Echosounder and dual antenna Trimble BX992 GNSS heading receiver. “Trimble's experience in GNSS guidance systems, and Teledyne's leadership in shallow-water hydrographic surveying provides

Hybrid Hydrographic Boat Delivered in France

French builder Alumarine Shipyard has delivered a new hydrographic survey boat to the Port of La Rochelle.The eight-meter aluminum vessel, dubbed Cassiopée, is powered by a dual electric/diesel propulsion system. The newbuild is designed to transit at 20-25 knots under diesel power between the home port and the acquisition area, then shift to the electric outboards while performing scans of the seafloor.Electric propulsion and hybrid drives manufacturer Torqeedo said it worked closely with the naval architect and shipyard to specify, install and integrate the electric propulsion package consistin

Teledyne Extends Academic Product Grant Application

the widest breadth of technology in the industry, and is pleased to share a full suite of these technologies with the academic community to address an array of potential global research programs. This grant is open to all students from accredited universities or institutions pursuing oceanographic or hydrographic studies, and provides up to 6 months free product usage and technical consultations to help ensure their success. Products in this year’s grant include: ADCPs, Acoustic Releases, DVLs, Multibeam and Imaging Sonars, PDS software, and Hydrophones. Applicants can apply for one or more of these

Oi20: Set for London in March

and organisations from 70 countries. USV supplier OceanAlpha Group Ltd (stand G450) is just one example of companies well placed to take advantage of the ExCel’s proximity to the Royal Victoria Dock for the staging of on-water product demonstrations. OceanAlpha will be displaying its M40 and M80 hydrographic survey boats and ME40 bathymetric survey boat, having developed more than 25 USV models in the decade since the company’s launch in 2010.Photo: Oceanology InternationalIn comparison to the last Oi London event in 2018, twice as many companies will be using the waterside location in 2020

Kongsberg Sells HUGIN AUV System to NIOT

Ocean Technology (NIOT), located in Chennai, India.According to a statement from Kongsberg Maritime India, the HUGIN AUV System ordered by NIOT is rated to a depth of 6,000 metres and will be equipped with a Kongsberg HISAS 1032 synthetic aperture sonar and EM2040 multibeam echosounder, designed for hydrographic and seabed classification applications.It will also carry a high-resolution colour still image camera, plus a range of environmental sensors for oceanographic surveys, including a magnetometer. This equipment array will facilitate the extremely demanding deep-sea scientific research and mapping

New AI Tool for Sonar Noise Cleanup

. For additional security, no data remains stored on the cloud following the AI classification process.“By leveraging deep learning techniques, Teledyne CARIS is poised to bring fundamental change to how sonar data is processed. The use of AI opens exciting opportunities for the future of hydrographic survey, from automated processing pipelines for crowd sourced bathymetry, to feature detection for charting,” said Karen Cove, Senior Product Manager

ROVOP Launches In-house Inspection Service

Subsea robotics firm ROVOP announced the addition of full in-house inspection service, to complement its range of underwater robotics technologies.With a fleet of 51 remotely operated underwater vehicles (ROV) including work class, light work class and observation class, ROVOP now has the ability to provide its clients with a complete inspection service, covering the preparation of inspection procedures, project execution offshore, reporting and inspection and asset integrity data management, the company said.Working closely with its survey and non-destructive testing (NDT) partners, ROVOP’s

POJL Upgrades to SBG Marine Navsight Solution

;Swathe Services, who supplied and installed the original system, assisted with the upgrade and servicing by SBG Systems.The port purchased the Apogee-U high-performance Inertial Navigation System (INS) from Swathe in 2016 along with a high resolution R2SONIC Multi-Beam Echo-Sounder (MBES) to conduct Hydrographic surveys out of St Helier and for additional commercial survey operations.James Williams, Managing Director of Swathe Services, says: “The performance of the Apogee Navsight offers superior performance compared to competitive products and allows for easier installation and integration into

Creating Data Confidence

The in-house calibration facilities at Ocean Scientific International Ltd. (OSIL) provide support, calibrations, pre- and post-deployment verifications (CalChecks) and repairs for a wide range of hydrographic instruments from its well-equipped department, and supports a variety of different parameters (including the main requirements of conductivity, sound velocity, pressure and temperature) to the highest levels of accuracy.OSIL is placed to source high-precision calibration standards for conductivity and salinity as the IAPSO Standard Seawater Service is operated from within the same location

TerraSond Wins NOAA Contract

TerraSond reports it has been awarded its seveth consecutive NOAA contract.The five-year IDIQ contract was awarded by the Hydrographic Surveys Division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)’s National Ocean Service, Office of Coast Survey, to provide hydrographic surveying services in the USA.The contract was effective January 1, 2020, with a maximum value of $250 million over five years, subject to appropriation by Congress. Thomas Newman, President, TerraSond, said, “Through our NOAA contracts, we have been performing comprehensive site characterization for

Mitcham Appoints New Tech Positions

MIND) ("Mitcham") has made two key additions to its technology development team.  Andy Meecham has joined Mitcham in the newly-created position of Vice President and Chief Technology Officer. Additionally, Dr Peter Ramsay has joined the company as Director – Strategic Hydrographic Programs.Meecham will be responsible for directing all of Mitcham's research and development activities. This role includes identifying opportunities to expand product offerings from existing technologies as well as acquiring new technology through internal development, acquisition or partnering

UKHO Appoints Rear Admiral Sparkes

The UK Hydrographic Office (UKHO) appointed Rear Admiral Peter Sparkes to the position of National Hydrographer and Deputy Chief Executive.As National Hydrographer, Sparkes is the UK government’s representative at the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO), where he works with partners to set and maintain standards that protect the safety of mariners around the world. In addition to this, he oversees key international partnerships with foreign navies, hydrographic offices, governments and commercial organizations to support the sharing of global marine geospatial data. And on behalf of UK

NOAA Awards 5-yr Hydrographic Gig to Fugro

innovation and delivering on future NOAA task orders,” he added.Fugro will manage all work associated with the new IDIQ award from its Houston-based Hydrography Centre of Excellence in the Americas. Fugro established the center in 2017 to address the region’s growing need for hydrographic services.Since then, the center has successfully developed innovative data acquisition systems, which are complemented by remote processing and large data transfer capabilities. These technologies allow Fugro to deliver high quality hydrographic services with increased safety and efficiency, and a

Damen Inks Deal for Hydrographic R/V

(DTC) contract with Cotecmar during ExpoDefensa 2019 in Bogota. The contract will see DTC provide design, engineering and technical assistance for the construction of a Scientific Marine Research Vessel (Buque de Investigación Científico Marina (BICM)).Cotemcar  will build the hydrographic and oceanogrpahic research vessel for DIMAR (Direccion Maritima – Maritime Authority) at their Mamonal location. The vessel, which will be 83 meters in length with a beam of 16 meters, will be the largest and most complex vessel ever to be built in Colombia.DIMAR will operate the vessel

XOCEAN Acquires 4D Ocean

Ocean data company XOCEAN announced on Wednesday that it has completed the acquisition of autonomous hydrographic survey company 4D Ocean.The announcement follows the news of XOCEAN’s successful €7.9 million funding round earlier this month.XOCEAN, which uses marine robotics known as unmanned surface vessels (USVs) to collect ocean data, has recently delivered projects for clients including BP, Equinor, PX Group and the UK’s Maritime and Coastguard Agency. The services provided by XOCEAN include mapping the seabed, inspecting subsea structures and monitoring the environment.Currently

Peel Ports Group invests in Norbit Tech

based Survey Vessel ‘Royal Charter’ plus their upcoming delivery of an L3Harris ASV Ltd vehicle.The Norbit iWBMSh now commissioned on the Royal Charter has replaced the vessels previously installed multibeam system.With the vessel now delivering high quality bathymetric and backscatter hydrographic data, Peel Ports have additionally installed a Norbit iLiDAR laser scanner to provide further survey capability in its often interesting and challenging survey environments."Peel Ports are expert Hydrographic Surveyors, who have evaluated technology and identified ambitious operational challenges

New Tech Aids US Navy Mapping

of the primary yet challenging goals of SBIR programs is transferring the benefits of federally funded innovations to the private sector. Areté achieved this goal by partnering with Fugro to develop and commercialize RAMMS. As a result, PILLS itself was improved, making it possible to deliver hydrographic mapping of an accuracy and quality that can support numerous data applications, including updated nautical charts.“We are very pleased to be part of this full-circle technology transfer and successful collaboration between industry and government to the benefit of all parties,“ said

Fugro Enters the South Korean Offshore Wind

with UST21 will facilitate collaboration on marine projects in South Korean waters, whereby Fugro will expand UST21’s local hydrography capacity to provide site characterization services, including geotechnical, geophysical and offshore metocean solutions. In return, UST21’s local hydrographic expertise will provide logistical and operational support to Fugro’s offshore metocean projects. For example, in conjunction with UST21, Fugro will shortly deploy several Seawatch Wind LiDAR buoys offshore South Korea to perform vital wind resource assessments.“By combining Fugro&rsquo

Unique Group Buys Five USVs

Subsea and offshore solutions provider Unique Group has sad it has signed an agreement to acquire five unmanned surface vessels (USV) DriX units from French technology company iXblue.The autonomous offshore survey vehicles are designed for a range of tasks such as geophysical and hydrographic surveys, touchdown monitoring of pipelines, subsea positioning, and remotely operated underwater vehicle (ROV) and autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) tracking.DriX, with its long endurance, increased hydrodynamics and flexible sensor payload, can improve the efficiency of offshore operations and act as a true

WASSP Launches New Rapid Deployment Multibeam Sounder

by just two people from vessel to vessel, or even helicoptered in if necessary.“WASSP Multibeam was originally designed to help with the placement of Rock Lobster pots to optimize catch, and since then the technology has found many new markets and opportunities around the world such as hydrographic survey. With recent developments allowing a great mix of performance and portability we are very excited to bring our technology to this new market,” says WASSP Global Sales & Marketing Manager Rufus Whiteford.WASSP Multibeam has already been used effectively in disaster relief. After

Commercial Hydrographic Training with USV

Swathe Services, a Hydrographic survey support company in Hayle, Cornwall UK ran what it calls the world’s first Multi-Beam Echo-Sounder training course using a remotely operated Unmanned Surface Vessel. Hydrographic Surveying is usually done with a manned survey vessel and takes many hours to complete. People came from as far afield as Norway, France, Slovenia, UK and the USA to attend the intensive 5-day course.As part of the training, the delegates mapped Hayle Harbor in Cornwall using an Unmanned Surface Vessel fitted with Multi-beam Echo-Sounder technology. The USV was remotely operated

Trimble Marine Construction Software for Positioning

The new Trimble Marine Construction Software for Positioning provides contractors with the ability to perform their own pre-/post-construction hydrographic survey.The system consists of Trimble Marine Construction software and a single beam echo sounder (SBES) for data acquisition, editing, plotting and dredge volume calculations. According to the developer, Contractors can reduce rework, increase productivity and improve site safety with a better understanding of the underwater environment.The accuracy of the waterway bed survey is the combined accuracy of the GNSS position and the echosounder

Woolpert, iXblue to Deliver Aerial Mapping Services

Woolpert Inc and iXblue Sea Operations division, part of iXblue Group based in France, have formed a strategic partnership to provide aerial mapping services to clients in Australia, New Zealand and across the South Pacific. Under this partnership, Woolpert and iXblue will collect, process and deliver airborne Digital Imagery, Topographic LiDAR and Bathymetric LiDAR operations from helicopter and fixed wing platforms to provide custom solutions to commercial and government clients.Woolpert has collected and processed hundreds of thousands of square miles in aerial, terrestrial and bathymetric

Rovco Nets $12.8 Mln in 12 Months

over 2,000% on its 2017/18 performance. The work includes long term subsea framework agreements, technology platform sales and research grants from Innovate UK and the Oil and Gas Technology Center. This has been generated alongside numerous remotely operated underwater vehicle (ROV) inspections and hydrographic surveys primarily to offshore wind farms and other tier 1 service companies in the UK and Asia markets.The organization also introduced its time-saving and automation technology to the global oil and gas industry, showcasing its machine learning and computer vision systems to several oil majors

Boskalis Subsea Services Eyes SURF Opportunities

On the back of recent contract awards, totaling in excess of £100 million ($122 million), Boskalis Subsea Services said it is inviting the supply chain to come forward with fresh, innovative ideas and new technology.The Aberdeen-headquartered subsea construction company, which has cemented its position in the North Sea with a series of inspection, repair and maintenance (IRM) projects, is also turning its attention to securing large scale SURF (subsea, umbilicals riser and flowlines) projects globally.Stuart Cameron, managing director of Boskalis Subsea Services, said, “As part of Boskalis&r

CTI Announces SonarWiz, Hires Maddock

Chesapeake Technology Inc. (CTI) hired David Maddock shortly before Ocean Business 2019 (OB2019).Maddock has over a decade of experience as a software engineer in the hydrographic industry. Before joining the CTI team, he served as Technical Director for Programming at HYPACK where he worked with side scan, sub-bottom, multibeam, and LiDAR data acquisition and processing. He holds a B.S. in Computer Science from Central Connecticut State University and a M.S. in English Literature and Language from Signum University.CTI was active at OB2019 and SonarWiz was used for on board demonstrations of post-proce

MTR100: Teledyne Marine

new depthsIn 2019, Teledyne also launched the SEARAPTOR, a survey grade deep water autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) designed to operate at abyssal depths.  A wide range of sensors allow the SeaRaptor to complete several types of missions including: broad area search with side-scan sonar, hydrographic survey with multibeam and sub bottom profiler, and high resolution inspection survey with camera and acoustic sonar. These surveys support applications such as search and recovery, salvage, exploration, construction support, marine archaeology, and oceanography.The SeaRaptor. Image: Teledyne MarineThe

New Autonomous Vehicle for Offshore Wind Surveys

a rigid wing sail while the LiDAR, navigation, and communication systems are powered by deck and sail mounted solar panels and large batteries.In addition, standard integration interfaces enable broad flexibility in sensor payload and survey types such as standard meteorological ocean, bathymetric and hydrographic, current and wave characteristics, avian and marine mammal detection, and alerting.Over the last 18 months, Equinor and AMS have conducted studies and built prototypes to test the system. These have shown dramatic improvements in lead time, cost and areal coverage versus today’s options

Bluefin-9 Simplifies Underwater Planning & Monitoring

Bluefin-9 Collect High Resolution Imagery of the SeafloorThe Bluefin-9's tightly integrated commercial off-the-shelf sensors deliver best-in-class imagery and collect bathymetric and environmental data, including data on water currents, temperature, salinity and turbidity. Designed for detailed hydrographic surveys, the Bluefin-9 autonomous unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) is outfitted with Sonardyne Solstice Multi-Aperture Sonar (MAS) that provides high-resolution imagery even in littoral waters

Hydrographic Survey Training Courses: UK

This September, Swathe Services are running a five-day and a one-day HYPACK training course.The intensive five-day HYPACK/HYSWEEP Multi-Beam Echo Sounder (MBES) training course for hydrographic surveyors, will run from Monday 23rd - Friday 27th, September 2019 at the Swathe Services office in Cornwall UK.The one-day HYPACK training course will run on Monday, September 30, 2019 at the Kendleshire Golf Club in Bristol UK, and cover the latest features of HYPACK software.Managing Director James Williams said: “People come from the UK and overseas to attend our courses. The 5-Day course offers

Picotech's Man-Portable Multibeam USV

support for RTK via VRS Now (with user’s subscription), RTK via base station with optional UHF modem, optional mounting points for tracking prisms and an optional Lidar.PicoPODs have been incredibly successful with early adopters. The systems have been deployed in the UK, US, Japan and Italy for hydrographic survey of ports, tidal barriers, rivers, tailing ponds, SAR and multibeam training courses

Teledyne Marine Opens Vehicles Service Center

US-based Teledyne Marine said it has opened a Vehicles Service Center at the Teledyne Reson office in Slangerup, Denmark.The expanded facility in Slangerup will support the large number of LBVs, vLBVs, and Z-Boats throughout Europe, the company said. Customers of Teledyne SeaBotix and Teledyne Oceanscience will now have the option to have their remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) and unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) repaired, refurbished and tested within Europe. Local service will eliminate the need to ship vehicles back to the United States, saving significant time, effort and money.The Service Center

Acteon Acquires Proserv’s Field Technology Services

Subsea services group Acteon announced on Monday it has acquired Proserv’s field technology services (FTS) business unit, including its surveying capability. The exact terms of the transaction were been disclosed.The services and facilities of the FTS business, which offers cutting, friction stud welding and pipeline maintenance services from bases in Stavanger (Norway), Houma (USA), Singapore and Aberdeen (UK), will be integrated into Acteon under the Claxton brand. The survey business unit will join Acteon’s existing UTEC Survey business, an independent global surveying company.Richard

MAN in Global Service Deal with Wallem

German solution provider to the marine and energy sectors, MAN Energy Solutions (MES) has signed a Global Key Account Management contract with Hong Kongbased Wallem Group.The contract covers the supply of spares and services to MAN main engines, generators and turbochargers aboard vessels managed by Wallem, the provider of technology-driven maritime solutions.According to a press release from Augsburg-based MES, the global agreement covers all offices of the Wallem Group and provides access to a dedicated global and local key account manager from MAN PrimeServ, MAN Energy Solutions’ after-sales

MPA Celebrates World Hydrography Day

In celebration of World Hydrography Day themed “Hydrographic Information Driving Marine Knowledge” this year, Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) hosted the East Asia Hydrographic Commission working committee meetings in Singapore.The World Hydrography Day celebration event was held at Fort Canning, Singapore on June 28, 2019. "Singapore’s port is over 700 years old. Our rich history dates back to the early 14th century when Singapore was establishing itself as a free trade port. Today, we have grown into a global hub port, the largest transshipment port in the