TE Connectivity Expands in China

TE’s new manufacturing facility in Kunshan, China is delivering the company’s C-Lite cable family of marine classified cables, expanding the offering to its customers in Asia. The new location targets reduced lead time, taking the average delivery time from 12 weeks down to just five weeks, the company said. At Marintec China 2015, TE will feature the C-Lite line, which with the recent addition of the China Classification Society (CCS), are now certified by eight marine classification agencies.

Forum ROV to support University Renewables Projects

Forum Energy Technologies, Inc. won an order to supply the University of Limerick with a Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) to support its subsea inspection and intervention work on renewable energy infrastructure. The University’s Mobile and Marine Robotics Research Centre (MMRRC) purchased the Sub-Atlantic Comanche 2,000m Observation Class ROV and associated launch and recovery system for delivery in March 2017 under a MaREI Science Foundation Ireland infrastructure grant (15/RI/3232).

Petrobras, Total ink Strategic Alliance Deal

Petrobras signed a Master Agreement with French outfit Total today related to the strategic collaboration set forth in the memorandum of understanding signed on October 24 by our CEO Pedro Parente and Total CEO Patrick Pouyanné. Under the new agreement, Petrobras will substantially increase the level of technological cooperation in the fields of geosciences, subsea systems, and in joint studies in…

Tech File: Blue Robotics BlueROV2

The popularity and availability of aerial quad-copter drones have grown exponentially over the past few years. But, in large part because of the complexities that water penetration poses for electronics, underwater remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) have not experienced that same level of popularity. The technology required to fabricate the components for an ROV to explore beyond a few meters depth has been beyond the capabilities of all but a handful of companies who have mastered the skills.

Fourth Submarine in UK’s Astute Class Named

The fourth submarine in the Astute class was officially named Audacious during a December 16 ceremony at builder BAE Systems’ Submarines site in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria. Guests watched as Lady Jones, Audacious' sponsor and wife of Admiral Sir Phillip Jones, the First Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Staff, named the 7,400-metric-ton, 97-meter-long attack submarine, and then smashed a bottle of beer against her hull.

New Alkaline Battery System for the Oceanographic Market

The new Energy Sales Pressure-Tolerant Battery System (PTBS) is an alkaline battery solution specifically for the oceanographic community, set to be unveiled at Oceanology International North America, February 14-16, in San Diego. Energy Sales, Inc. said its new design replaces the need for housings made of titanium or other costly advanced composite materials. Working with the University of Washington Applied Physics Lab (UW/APL)…

Boeing to Acquire Liquid Robotics

Aiming to grow its seabed-to-space autonomous capabilities, Boeing said it has entered into an agreement to acquire Liquid Robotics, developer of the Wave Glider ocean surface robot. “With Liquid Robotics’ innovative technology and Boeing’s leading intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance solutions, we are helping our customers address maritime challenges in ways that make existing platforms smarter…

Drone Technology Aids Antarctic Ship Operations

A quadcopter drone has helped navigate the Aurora Australis through the sea ice on its annual resupply voyage to Casey station. Flown off the aft deck of the ship, the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) provided the crew with real-time imagery of the sea ice conditions ahead of the ship, optimising navigation decisions. Australian Antarctic Division Future Concepts Manager, Matt Filipowski, said the drone was a valuable addition to the current suite of sea ice navigation tools…

Chart Tile Service to Aid Charts Update

NOAA Coast Survey gives commercial navigation systems better tool to receive updated nautical charts. Accessing up-to-date nautical charts on electronic systems and mobile apps is about to get easier, as developers start adopting NOAA Coast Survey's new Chart Tile Service prototype. Navigational chart users should not notice any difference in how their charting systems operate - except that service…

Makai Upgrades Cable Installation Simulation Software

Makai has released version 6.0 of MakaiPlan Pro, software for planning and simulating subsea power and telecom cable installations. MakaiPlan Pro includes the tools of MakaiPlan GIS cable route engineering software. In addition, MakaiPlan Pro allows the user to perform powerful and precise 3-D, dynamic simulations of a submarine cable installation. The operator can quickly simulate an entire cable lay in advance from the comfort of the office at up to 50 times faster than real-time.

Subsea UK to Sponsor MATE ROV Competition

Subsea UK announced today, at Subsea Expo, that it will sponsor an initiative which inspires budding subsea engineers for a second year. The body which represents the £9billion subsea industry has now committed £20,000 to the Scottish MATE ROV competition. The initiative, organized by the Robert Gordon University, encourages young engineers to design and test underwater machinery with help from industry mentors.

Xylem Acquires Tideland

Xylem Inc., a global water technology company dedicated to solving water issues, has acquired Tideland Signal Corporation, a privately owned company specializing in analytics solutions in the coastal and ocean management sectors. News of the acquisition was shared in the Company’s 4th quarter earnings announcement. Headquartered in Houston, with key locations in the Netherlands, the U.K. and Singapore…

Kraken Scoops $9 Mln Deep-Sea Battery Contract

Canadian headquartered marine technology company Kraken Robotics Inc. said it has reached a deal with Ocean Infinity to supply $9 million worth of deep-sea batteries for the U.S. based ocean survey and exploration company for delivery from Q4 2018 to Q4 2019.Kraken will arrange for these batteries to be built by Kraken Power GmbH, an entity in which Kraken currently holds a 19.9 percent interest. The…

New Underwater Inspection System for LA County Sheriffs

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (LASD) has taken delivery of a new CodaOctopus Underwater Inspection System (UIS) to aid in real-time threat assessment, hazardous object identification and change detection.The UIS was sold and delivered by Coda Octopus Group, Inc. for a contract value of $665,000.“Members of LASD - Special Enforcement Bureau (SEB) were extremely pleased to take delivery of this state-of-the-art piece of equipment…

Remote Monitoring System Delivered for The Ocean Cleanup

Subsea technology company Seatools said it has completed the development, manufacturing and testing of a remote offshore monitoring system on behalf of The Ocean Cleanup, a nonprofit organization dedicated to removing plastic from the world’s oceans.The monitoring system is currently integrated into the first-ever ocean cleanup system at The Ocean Cleanup’s assembly yard in Alameda, Calif.In the third quarter of 2018…

Ashtead Delivers Installation Monitoring Services to Subsea 7

Subsea equipment specialist Ashtead Technology said it has completed a subsea installation monitoring project for Subsea 7 in support of Equinor’s Utgard development, located in blocks 15/8 (NCS) and 16/18a (UKCS) of the central North Sea.The contract, which was awarded by i-Tech Services on behalf of Subsea 7, saw Ashtead’s Deflection Monitoring System (DMS) used to capture critical data required…

L3 OceanServer Participates in Advanced Naval Technology Exercise

Autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) manufacturer L3 OceanServer said it was among the participants in this year's Advanced Naval Technology Exercise (ANTX), an annual event held at the Naval Undersea Warfare Center in Newport, R.I., where the future of naval technologies is demonstrated. L3 OceanServer’s presence included 12 Iver unmanned underwater vehicles (UUV), the largest UUV showing at ANTX.Iver vehicles  completed seven missions at the event…

MTR100: The Ones to Watch

Based in Aberdeen, Elaine Maslin is MTR’s ‘eyes & ears’ on the ground scouting new tech for our pages. Her mandate for the MTR100 was simple: ‘find five companies to watch closely in 2019.’ This is what she found.Forssea: Leveraging Machine Learning & AIMachine learning and artificial intelligence have made a huge impact on our day to day lives, from image recognition in Facebook to cars parking for themselves.

Aker Bets on Software Engineers for Its Oil Business

When the owners of Norwegian oil firm Aker BP decided to digitise its assets and operations, they searched high and low for the right software company. But they failed to find a suitable one.So instead they set up their own, Cognite, to create digital maps of Aker BP's oil industry assets, integrating data from equipment such as pumps, heat and pressure sensors, maintenance records and even staff rotas to improve efficiency and safety.Less than two years later…

UK Spurs Autonomous Shipping Development

The autonomous and smart shipping industry is set to receive a boost, after the Maritime & Coastguard Agency (MCA) and the Department for Transport (DfT), in collaboration with the National Oceanography Center’s (NOC) Marine Robotics Innovation Center, successfully secured £1 million in a bid to accelerate the U.K. into a world-leading position in this area.The funding, awarded by the U.K. Government’s Department for Business…