New Report Outlines Big Potential for Offshore Wind

Offshore wind currently represents just a small piece of the world’s energy supply. But that’s changing faster than ever before as new and existing players look to tap the huge resource potential—and market opportunities—being unlocked by shrinking costs and technological advances, as outlined in a recent comprehensive market report.In the coming two decades, the rapidly maturing offshore wind market…

Oi 50th "Voices": Professor Edward Hill, OBE, Chief Executive, National Oceanography Centre

Oceanology International, the world's largest exhibition and conference for the subsea sector, was originally scheduled for March 2020, subsequently rescheduled to December 2020 due to COVID-19. The organizers last month announced the need to take this iconic event 100% virtual due to the lingering pandemic. Below are insights from Professor Edward Hill, Chief Executive, NOCS, as published in the "Oi 50th Anniversary Edition"…

New Ocean Mapping Center Partnership

NOAA and the University of New Hampshire (UNH) are expanding a 24-year ocean and Great Lakes mapping partnership through the creation of a new Center of Excellence for Operational Ocean and Great Lakes Mapping.“NOAA and UNH have a long history of collaborating to advance the latest technologies and tools to map our ocean, coasts and Great Lakes — a cornerstone of the blue economy,” said Rick Spinrad, Ph.D., NOAA Administrator.

Drones for Coastal Enviro Management

Unmanned aerial systems (UAS), commonly called drones, have been making increasing impacts in the maritime domain. As the capabilities of these platforms have increased, so have their contributions to maritime science, defense, and industry. Recognizing this, the Alliance for Coastal Technologies (ACT) and the Northeastern Regional Association of Coastal and Ocean Observing Systems (NERACOOS), with support from the U.S.

Voyis Launches Advanced Vision System for Subsea ROVs

Subsea optical inspection technologies developer Voyis Imaging Inc. has launched a new product line called Discovery Vision Systems that it says will advance ROV vision systems, and deliver a new level of situational awareness to ROV operations, achieving both high-resolution video and real-time 3D perception for piloting, inspection, and autonomy applications. "Subsea inspection operations are a challenging task which have historically required specialized knowledge and complex technology.

Subsea Vision & Photogrammetry Lab Formed

Offshore robotics company FORSSEA ROBOTICS chose GMS as main technical partner to certify its real-time visual positioning technologies. A joint laboratory will be created to develop a common offer covering camera calibration, subsea image treatment and innovative photogrammetry solutions.FORSSEA ROBOTICS decided last year to adapt its Atoll ROV embedded visual docking technology into a stand-alone product.

Kraken Gives Ocean Infinity AUVs an Energy Boost

Ocean Infinity's Kongsberg Hugin autonomous underwater vehicles (AUV) have achieved significant endurance milestones during testing thanks to new pressure tolerant batteries from Kraken Robotics. The vehicles performed several missions to greater than 5,000 meters and an unprecedented mission of over 100 hours without recharging, while running a full survey payload. As a result, using Kraken batteries…

A System of Systems Approach to Mine Countermeasures

A team of underwater, surface and aerial unmanned vehicles was recently deployed Newport, R.I. to demonstrate a “System of Systems” approach to expeditionary mine-countermeasures (MCM).The multi domain unmanned assets were deployed by Teledyne Marine and its industry partners at The Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC) Division Newport during the 2018 Advanced Naval Technology Exercise (ANTX) August 29-31.The multi-vehicle…

SBG Systems Expands in Asia

SBG Systems has opened a new subsidiary in Singapore. Located in the center of the city, this new office brings sales and technical support to the Asian region.SBG Systems is a supplier of MEMS-based IMU and inertial navigation systems for land, air, and marine applications. The company has been working and developing its sales distribution channels in Asia for many years and has decided to bring sales…

Poland's Ministry of Defense Orders Gavia AUVs

Teledyne Marine – Vehicles announced the Ministry of Defense of Poland has procured, through Remontowa Shipbuilding two additional Gavia autonomous underwater vehicles (AUV) for its second and third Kormoran Class new MCMV. The anticipated delivery of two systems will be added to the current Gavia AUV fleet, which has been operated by the Polish Navy for Naval Mine CounterMeasures (NMCM).To complement the Gavia AUVs previously procured…

NOAA Awards $11.6M for Harmful Algal Bloom Research

NOAA is announced funding of 17 new research projects around the country to better understand and predict harmful algal blooms (HABs) and improve response to them.NOAA’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS) allocated $10.3 million to harmful algal bloom research in fiscal year 2020 for work that will take place over the next three to five years. Approximately $4 million will cover the first year of 11 new projects, while $6.3 million will go to 16 projects already in process.

Kraken, Greensea Partner to Advance Marine Robotics

Kraken Robotics and Greensea Systems have agreed to expand upon collaborative efforts already undertaken between the two companies to advance the capabilities of marine robotics. Under the agreement, Greensea will support development, integration and testing work with Kraken across several of Kraken’s technology platforms.The companies have worked together over the last 12 months to utilize Greensea's OPENSEA open architecture robotic platform and provide a robust…

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…

Trendsetter Engineering to Deliver Subsea Hardware for LLOG's Gulf of Mexico Project

Trendsetter Engineering, a privately owned oil and gas service company based in Houston, said it had won a "significant" contract to provide subsea hardware for LLOG Exploration Offshore's Leon and Castile subsea developments in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico.The fields will be developed using the Salamanca floating production facility.Under the contract with LLOG, Trendsetter will design and manufacture…

Subsea Technology & Rentals Invests in iXblue Technologies

Subsea Technology & Rentals (STR) announced its continued investment in iXblue subsea navigation systems.STR’s investment includes the acquisition of iXblue’s long baseline (LBL) system; Canopus, making them the first rental company to offer the system for hire. Part of iXblue’s sparse LBL solution, Canopus brings together intelligent transponders, Ramses transceivers, Inertial Navigation Systems (INS), and Delph Subsea Positioning Software.

Overwatch: Advancing NATO’s Maritime Situational Awareness via Commercially Available Space-based Assets

“All the business of war, and indeed all the business of life, is to endeavour to find out what you don’t know by what you do”Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of WellingtonIt is hard to get past headlines painting the portrait of a world besieged physically and economically by a medical crisis on a global scale and a nation that has turned the national spotlight onto the fundamentals of its constitutional democracy…

Offshore Surveyors OFG, EMGS Enter CSEM Tech Pact

Canadian offshore survey firm Ocean Floor Geophysics (OFG) and its Norwegian counterpart Electromagnetic Geoservices ASA (EMGS) have signed a cooperation agreement.Under the agreement, the two offshore surveyors have agreed to work together on various projects to promote the use of marine controlled-source electromagnetic (CSEM) technology."The agreement places specific emphasis on exploiting the obvious…

Shell Deepwater Picks Bentley Systems' Digital Twin Solutions

Shell’s Deepwater business has selected Bentley Systems' digital twin solutions to streamline its capital projects process and accelerate time to first oil.Bentley Systems said that Shell, with a plan to deliver several subsea tie-back projects over the next 10 years, has recognized an opportunity to accelerate capital project delivery and cut project delivery time by implementing an integrated digital…

New Algorithm Could Simplify Decisions for Ship Channel Dredging

A new decision-support tool could become a game changer in the dredging of ship channels. Millions of dollars are at stake every time a major ship channel is cleaned up. Delays in dredging can cost even more by triggering increased risks, repeated maintenance and lost revenue. In either case, the task cannot be put off indefinitely.All ship channels must be regularly cleared of sand, debris settled on the bottom (called shoal) and miscellaneous trash.

They Say We Know More About the Moon Than About the Deep Sea. They’re Wrong

We know more about the Moon than the deep sea.This idea has been repeated for decades by scientists and science communicators, including Sir David Attenborough in the 2001 documentary series The Blue Planet. More recently, in Blue Planet II (2017) and other sources, the Moon is replaced with Mars.As deep-sea scientists, we investigated this supposed “fact” and found it has no scientific basis. It is…