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…

Wave Glider – Ocean Monitoring in Motion

The Wave Glider is a remote control ocean robot, which uses wave motion as propulsion. As an autonomous marine vehicle, the Wave Glider is capable of conducting detailed meteorological and oceanographic surveys across large distances and under the most extreme wind and sea conditions. Since its inception, the Wave Glider has seen the roles it is capable of undertaking greatly expanded, with the Wave Glider becoming a key Metocean measurement asset for research institutes…

Kraken Announced Executive Appointments

Kraken Sonar Inc. announced it has recruited two industry veterans to further develop its sensors-to-systems strategy. Joining the company is Dr. Tom Tureaud, who brings 30 years of industry experience with expertise that resulted in 12 patents, and Gina Miller, adding 10 years of unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) system engineering and leadership to Kraken’s design team. “We view these appointments as a sign of our commitment to being a leading company in our industry…

Nexans’ New Cable-Layer under Construction

Nexans said construction has started on its new cable-laying vessel for submarine HV cable systems installation. The vessel is being built by Croatia-based shipyard ULJANIK Group and is expected to be delivered and start operations by Q3 2020. The high capacity vessel is designed for worldwide installation of large volumes of HVDC and HVAC cable systems, covering the complete Nexans submarine product range, and has a 10 000-ton capacity turntable.

CMS-Geotech Launches New Monitoring System

Vibrocoring is an established fundamental phase of marine seabed investigations, but it’s importance is often underestimated, and much vibrocoring is carried out somewhat blindly, ie lowering the unit to the seabed, vibrating for a set time and recovering to the surface in the hope that an adequate sample has been obtained. CMS-Geotech Ltd. is a U.K. leader specializing in vibrocoring and CPT site investigation…

NOAA Backs Marine Debris Removal/Research

Nearly $2.2 million in fiscal year 2017 funding through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Marine Debris Program will support 15 new marine debris removal and research projects. Four groups received a total of $935,156 for research to advance understanding of how microplastics interact with seafood species. Projects awarded through this grant competition will improve our understanding…

Swathe Services Named Distributor for AUV-S

Houston-based Advanced Undersea Vehicles and Systems (AUV-S) LLC has appointed Swathe Services as exclusive sales distributor for the U.K. and Europe. AUV-S combines up-to-the-minute technology and state-of-the-art engineering to provide the offshore industry with safe and reliable autonomous products including the highly versatile Multipurpose Unmanned Surface Vessel (MUSV). David Medeiros, CEO of AUV-S, chose Swathe Services to boost the company’s U.K. and European market presence.

Shell, Petrobras Expand Deep Water Partnership

Two of the world’s largest energy companies, Royal Dutch Shell and Petrobras, signed last week in The Hague, Netherlands, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to establish a long-term mutual collaboration in developing pre-salt fields in Brazil. Shell said the partnership will allow it to benefit from technical solutions, contract management expertise and cost efficient initiatives Petrobras applies to Brazil’s pre and post-salt projects.

General Dynamics Bags $ 50 mi Submarine Contracts

General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems, a business unit of General Dynamics was awarded two contract modifications totaling $50 million to continue supporting the AN/BYG-1 combat control system aboard U.S. Navy and Royal Australian Navy submarines, as part of the AN/BYG-1 modernization program for the tactical control systems (TCS) and weapons control systems (WCS). General Dynamics is delivering enhanced capabilities across multiple submarine platforms…

One-on-One with SMAST’s Steven E. Lohrenz

MTR had the opportunity to visit with many colleagues at the recent Oceans2013 MTS/IEEE San Diego conference. Among them was Steve Lohrenz, Dean of  the School for Marine Science and Technology at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. Steve was there to chair the session on Marine Education and Outreach and to promote the new Professional Science Master’s in Coastal and Ocean Administration, Science and Technology. Steve explained the program in more detail to MTR.

Unlocking Seabed Secrets with Underwater Robots

From September 22 to October 13, 2014, the NATO Research Vessel Alliance is conducting the Multinational AutoNomy Experiment (MANEX ‘14) along the Ligurian coast to demonstrate the advantages of mapping the seabed using autonomous vehicles. Throughout the experiment, multiple autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) equipped with modern sensors relevant to NATO minehunting missions are being employed…