iXBlue to Exhibit at OI China 2014

iXBlue, a global supplier of civil and defense solutions for navigation, positioning and imaging, said it will exhibit a number of its solutions during the Oceanology International China Exposition. The event takes place September 3-5, 2014 at INTEX Shanghai. With offices around the globe, including China, iXBlue serves thousands of customers in applications that include offshore oil and gas, construction and dredging…

MTR100 '13 Xsens

Xsens is a leader in MEMS IMUs, VRUs and AHRSs in the $1000-$5000 class. These products regularly go head to head with FOGs when it comes to integration in maritime applications. The 4th generation MTi that has been introduced in 2012 has proven itself in new applications. Xsens is a developer and global supplier of 3D motion tracking products and solutions, based on MEMS inertial technology. The company operates in four business segments: Industrial Applications…

Fugro Enables Safer Drilling for BP in Strong Currents

Fugro has provided a spectrum of services to BP Trinidad and Tobago LLC (bpTT) to allow safe drilling and completion of five subsea wells in an area of strong currents. The services include wellhead motion (fatigue) monitoring, metocean measurements and positioning services. The positioning activities were carried out onboard the drilling vessel as well as on the three supporting anchor handling tugs (one tug had subsea acoustic ROV positioning).

MTR100 '13 MacArtney Underwater Technology Group

Gl. Sales mgr. Sales mgr. Sales mgr. Sales mgr. Sales mgr. Sales mgr. The MacArtney Underwater Technology Group is a global supplier of underwater technology specializing in design, manufacture, sales and service of a wide range of systems to offshore operators, surveyors, the renewable energy sector, ocean sciences and navies across the world. MacArtney’s systems and components are backed by an international network of subsidiaries and representatives, providing local access to global service.

Unique Group to Double Global Subsea, Offshore Business

Unique Group has set in place measures to double its size and global infrastructure by 2019 through capital investment, acquisitions and expansion into key markets. With a current turnover in excess of $100m, the company has restructured its worldwide organisation into five new business units, to capitalise on Unique Group’s current and future market sectors. The first expansion into new sectors is…

MAST, WESMAR Partner on Maritime Security Technology

Maritime security company MAST announced it has formed a new partnership with marine sonar systems provider WESMAR with the goal of protecting super yachts and the maritime industry from security risks. Phil Cable, CEO of MAST, commented, “Global threats to assets and personnel operating in the maritime environment are complex and continually evolving. MAST said it has been developing and designing bespoke security packages for the maritime industry and global yacht clients since 2008…

BSEE Extends Comment Period for Proposed Offshore Safety Systems Rule

The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) announced today a 45-day extension to the public comment period for the proposed rule on offshore oil and natural gas production safety systems. Comments will now be accepted through Dec. 5, 2013. The proposed rule will revise 30 CFR 250 subpart H, Oil and Gas Production Safety Systems, to address recent technological advances. This section of the regulations has not had a major revision since it was first published in 1988.

General Dynamics Tests U.S. Navy UUVs

General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems completed the comprehensive risk reduction program for the U.S. Navy’s Knifefish Surface Mine Countermeasure Unmanned Undersea Vehicle (UUV) program. Designed to discover any potential systems defect early on in the program’s development phase, the configuration item test (CIT) successfully verified key components within the UUV system including the hardware architecture and critical areas of hardware and software integration.

CTI SonarWiz Supports Multi-Beam and Interferometric Bathymetry Systems

ChesapeakeTechnology Inc. (CTI), a company in real-time acquisition and GIS based processing software for seafloor mapping, announced an advance to its flagship software SonarWiz with the addition of post-processing for multi-beam echo sounder and interferometric bathymetry systems. SonarWiz now offers data processing for both multi-beam and interferometric bathymetric systems with present support for processing bathymetry file types of ALL, HSX, JSF, R2S, RDF, S7K, SXI, and XTF.

EdgeTech Upgrades its Sonar Software

EdgeTech, producer of high resolution sonar imaging systems and underwater technology, has released a new version of its Discover sonar software. The new software coverage mapper module has advanced navigation features allowing the setup of survey lines with a left/right steering indicator to assist in survey line control. Background navigation charts and other imagery such as multibeam bathymetry and satellite imagery can be layered or blended with individual transparency control…

Valeport Supports Quest for Marine Discoveries

Valeport, a manufacturer of oceanographic, hydrographic and hydrometric instrumentation, said it is supporting scientists to expand knowledge of marine biodiversity with its latest CTD profiler, the fastCTD, which records the conductivity, temperature and depth of sea water. The fastCTD is integral to the research kit that will accompany respected marine biologist Dr. Sonia Rowley as she undertakes her latest expedition to the island of Pohnpei…

NOAA Seeks Applicants for Hydrographic Panel

NOAA is soliciting applications for membership on the Hydrographic Services Review Panel, a federal advisory committee that advises the NOAA administrator on the agency’s hydrographic programs, products, and technology. Applications must be received by August 10. “Quality data is essential to NOAA maritime programs, whether it is developing innovative products for precision navigation, creating richer data streams for ocean observations…

Future ROV Designers

“Away” calls out the deck crew feeding the tether line as the ROV slips silently below the surface. The pilot grips a joystick and deftly maneuvers the craft downward toward its target, intently following its progress on a pair of eight-inch monitors. The copilot, in charge of the working appendages begins the delicate task of opening an underwater hatch. As an observer, it’s hard to comprehend that the UR2 ROV crew you are watching is made up of sixth-graders…

MTR 100: Shark Marine Technologies

4-23 Nihan Drive, St. No. Celebrating 30 years in the business, Shark Marine Technologies Inc. began in the garage of president Jim Garrington. Today it’s well known in the business for its underwater technologies which have expanded from camera systems, to ROVs, to diver held sonar and navigation systems and now its diver delivery system that can operate completely autonomously. Shark Marine today has a broad offering that includes the following: Diver Held Sonar Imaging and Navigation Systems…

Open Water Coil Tubing Drilling Off Norway

At the beginning of the year, Island Offshore with their partner Baker Hughes entered a back-to-back agreement with VTT Maritime who had been awarded a contract for ground core sampling above – in what is reported to be – the world’s longest (25.5 km) and deepest (385m) subsea road tunnel, named Rogfast. Together with the end client Statens Vegvesen, (“Norwegian Public Roads Administration”), it was decided that Island Offshore’s new coiled tubing drilling method should be applied.

Cutting Edge Tech Helps Find Lake Huron Shipwrecks

Researchers at NOAA’s Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary have recently completed a four-phase research project to test the application of technology to locate, document and explore shipwrecks lost in Lake Huron. Under a grant from NOAA’s Office of Ocean Exploration and Research, Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary assembled an interdisciplinary team of researchers from around the country to support an expedition based from the sanctuary’s Great Lakes Maritime Heritage Center in Alpena…

MacArtney Updates MERMAC ROV Winches

The MacArtney Group introduced the newly upgraded MERMAC R series of ROV winches. Featuring high power and speed, minimal maintenance requirements, a rugged and compact design, Active Heave Compensation (AHC) and a unique Remote Diagnostics Tool - the MERMAC R series promises to deliver cutting-edge winch solutions for ROV systems and tasks of all types, MacArtney said. Selecting the right winch system for a specific vessel, ROV system and task portfolio is a complex matter.

Seaeye Launches Enhanced Sea Owl ROV

The Sea Owl concept, introduced by Saab in the 1980s, has been completely reengineered with new chassis, advanced technology content and increased work capability. Now named Sea Owl XTi, the new design combines acclaimed features from Saab Seaeye’s stable of successful vehicles, with the added feature of 360° orientation, allowing the Rov to work in any orientation, even upside down. The result is…

Teledyne RD Instruments Cosponsors AUV Competition

Teledyne RD Instruments, a company in acoustic Doppler current profiling and navigation innovations, is a cosponsor in the 18th annual international RoboSub AUV competition, a STEM event held in San Diego and open to the community free of charge. Cosponsoring as part of the Teledyne Marine group of companies, Teledyne RD Instruments has been sponsoring this event for more than a decade. Along with cosponsoring the event…

Hydroid Unveils Subsea Hyperbaric Testing System

Manufacturer of marine robotic systems Hydroid, Inc. has installed a new subsea Hyperbaric Testing System (HTS) at its manufacturing facility in Pocasset, Mass. in order to assess and ensure rated depth integrity of its autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) and other marine robotics products. Hydroid, a subsidiary of Kongsberg Maritime, said this testing was previously performed at third party facilities…