NOAA Commissions Survey Ship

NOAA commissions high-tech coastal mapping 'Ferdinand R. Hassler' in Norfolk, Va. The new ship’s primary mission will be to detect and monitor changes to the sea floor. Data collected by the ship will be used to update nautical charts, detect potential hazards to navigation, and enhance our understanding of the ever-changing marine environment. “With the growth in the size of commercial vessels and the importance of waterborne commerce to our economic security…

Unmanned Vehicles In, On and Above the Water

As part of the annual BlueTech Week in San Diego, attendees were given an opportunity to see several unmanned vehicle technologies in action. The main event was put on by a team consisting of Marine Advanced Research, Inc.; Planck Aerosystems, Inc.; and Teledyne Marine, Inc. (all with bases in California). Together, the team demonstrated multi-interoperability among five different unmanned systems on the water, in the air and subsea.

Irish Naval Service Acquires Navigator Diver Held Sonar

The Irish Naval Service has acquired a Navigator Diver Held Sonar and Navigation System manufactured by Shark Marine Technologies Inc. of Ontario, Canada. The Irish Naval Service is the State’s Principal Seagoing Agency. The Naval Service exercises and upholds the States sovereignty and obligations over Ireland’s maritime jurisdiction which is an area 12 times larger than the island of Ireland. The Naval Service Diving Section (NSDS) is the primary State diving team…

Kraken Sets out to Advance Offshore Digitalization

Oil and gas companies are no stranger to big data, technology and digital innovation, but Canada based marine technology company Kraken Robotics Inc. believes the industry has yet to take full advantage of the opportunities that derive from using big data and robotic technology in a meaningful way. A single drilling rig can generate terabytes of data every day, yet only a small fraction of it is used for decision-making, it said.

FarSounder Secures Navy Contract

FarSounder Introduces 3D Navigation Systems through the U.S. FarSounder, Inc. has been awarded a contract to provide FarSounder-1000 systems for two U.S. Navy transferred OSPREY Class Mine Hunter Coastal (MHC) Vessels. The systems were sold by FarSounder's dealer Voyager Maritime Alliance Group of Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. via their customer, VSE Corporation. VSE's delivery order is under a Foreign Military…

MTR100: Hydroid

Hydroid, Inc. – a part of Kongsberg Maritime’s autonomous underwater vehicles (AUV) group since its acquisition by Norwegian technology conglomerate Kongsberg Gruppen in 2008 – is a manufacturer of AUVs, including its signature REMUS vehicles. Hydroid founder Christopher von Alt’s knowledge of the intricate technology has been integral to the products’ development and widespread adoption. After years of fabricating and developing the REMUS vehicle at WHOI…

Sea Owl ROV Revamped

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 offers  360° orientation, allowing the ROV to work in any orientation, even upside- down. The result is a vehicle made for hard-to-reach places and hostile environments that combines the characteristics of a highly maneuverable observation vehicle with the versatility of a larger ROV.

Kraken Debuts AquaPix MINSAS

Kraken Sonar Systems Inc. announced the development of AquaPix MINSAS, a next generation Miniature Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Sonar designed for operation to depths of 3,000m. The system integrates the latest electronics, transducer arrays and signal processing software and is optimized for the demanding size, weight, power and cost constraints of Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUV), Unmanned Surface Vehicles (USV) and high speed towfish platforms.

Seatronics Invests in iXblue RAMSES System

Seatronics announced its investment in iXblue’s RAMSES system, an acoustic synthetic baseline positioning system with self-contained computing. The software allows for simple real-time sparse array navigation, for high precision navigation with smooth and drift free positioning. Seatronics said it continues to develop its business through the provision and development of technology, providing clients with increased efficiencies through forward thinking solutions.

Thales, ASV Develop Unmanned Minewarfare Vehicle

Thales UK has signed a contract with Autonomous Surface Vehicles Ltd (ASV Ltd) to develop a re-configurable Unmanned Surface Vehicle (USV) to meet the challenges of future off-board Mine Countermeasures (MCM) operations. The low signature USV, which is 11.5m in length and 3.6m in beam, will have a maximum speed of around 25 knots. The vehicle is now under construction and will be undergoing acceptance trials later this year.

NOAA Engineers a Better Current Sensor for Mariners

Navigating into seaports is now safer and more efficient for mariners thanks to improved NOAA technology that ships rely on to give them information about currents. The Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services (CO-OPS) developed a more reliable, cost-saving version of a current sensor system that can now be placed at more remote locations along navigation channels. The updated Acoustic…

UK Partners Launch Autonomous Navigation Project

As unmanned surface vessels continue to gain ground globally, a new project in the U.K. sets out to address challenges relating to the coexistence of autonomous systems and traditional manned vessels in shared water space. The £1.2 million ($1.6 million) research project, dubbed SWANS (Shared Waterspace Autonomous Navigation by Satellite), is funded by the U.K.’s innovation agency Innovate UK. Project lead BMT will work with partners ASV Global and Deimos Space UK to enable beyond line of sight…

Ecospeed Applied on Rudder and Ice Belt of Icebreaker Tug

Last month the rudder and the ice belt of the harbor icebreaker tug Jääsalo were coated with Ecospeed in Naantali, Finland. The m/s Jääsalo is responsible for keeping the Veitsiluoto fairway open in the port of Kemi in Finland. The Port of Kemi in the Bothnian Bay is an excellent import and export harbor for the industry of the Barents Region. The harbor represents the fastest route to the northern areas of Finland, Sweden, Norway, and the Murmansk area in Russia.

$140m Awarded for GoM Oil Impact Research

The Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative (GoMRI) has selected 12 research consortia to conduct scientific studies of the impacts of oil, dispersed oil, and dispersant on the Gulf of Mexico ecosystem and public health. These research investments focus on improving our fundamental understanding of the implications of events such as the Macondo well blowout, and on developing improved spill mitigation, oil and gas detection, characterization and remediation technologies.

Rovco Trials 3D Visualization Tech

Subsea cable survey and inspection work for the world’s largest and most technologically advanced offshore renewables test site, Wave Hub, was completed by U.K. based Rovco. The inspection program included the first commercial trial of Rovco’s 3D visualization technology to create scaled, high resolution models of subsea infrastructure with millimeter accuracy. Rovco also delivered a detailed bathymetric survey utilizing a multibeam echosounder (MBES)…

ABB Orders Cable-laying Vessel

ABB informs it has ordered a cable-laying vessel from Kleven shipyard in Norway. The new ship, scheduled to be delivered in 2017, will be custom-built to ABB specifications and measure approximately 140 by 30 meters. “This next-generation vessel incorporating state-of-the-art ABB technologies will be a key differentiator for our high-voltage cable business, enhancing flexibility and execution ability,” said Claudio Facchin, president of ABB’s Power Systems division.

Sovcomflot Ups its Role in the Sakhalin-2 Project

Sovcomflot Group (SCF Group) said its fleet will have greater involvement in serving the Sakhalin-2 offshore platforms for Sakhalin Energy Investment Company Ltd. (Sakhalin Energy). SCF Group, Sakhalin Energy and Swire Pacific Offshore have signed several agreements that entail the purchase of two platform supply vessels from Swire Pacific Offshore by SCF Group. All the three platform supply vessels…

US Awards $20 Mln for Wave and Tidal Energy Projects

The U.S. Energy Department announced 10 organizations have been selected to receive more than $20 million in funding for new research, development and demonstration projects that advance and monitor marine and hydrokinetic (MHK) energy systems, which generate electricity from ocean waves and tidal currents. These projects will aim to improve the performance of MHK systems and advance environmental…

MTR100: Shark Marine

Canada-based Shark Marine Technologies Inc. develops and delivers innovative technologies for commercial diving, scientific research, survey firms, film production companies, search and recovery organizations and some of the most elite military and law enforcement agencies around the world, and has recently secured a pair of naval references. The company supplies video systems, ROVs and accessories…

MacArtney Delivers First dotOcean GraviProbe in the US

U.S. Survey Equipment Services (SES) has taken delivery of a dotOcean GraviProbe supplied by MacArtney. The geotechnical profiling system analyzes the underwater sediment layers during intrusion. A recent business partnership agreement between dotOcean and MacArtney covering the North American continent consolidates MacArtney’s position in key markets and provides customer access to the range of dotOcean sediment and soil measurement products.