Aquabotix Unveils New Swarm USV/UUV

UUV Aquabotix Ltd, an underwater robotics company with operations in Australia and the U.S., has unveiled its new micro unmanned surface vehicle (USV) and unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) that is designed to operate in a swarm.The new vehicle, called SwarmDiver, is able to function with others simultaneously as a single coordinated entity, or “swarm”. The entire swarm can be easily controlled via…

MOL Moves into OSV Field

Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. today announced that it has teamed up with Mitsui & Co., Ltd. and AKOFS Offshore AS to purchase the subsea support vessel Skandi Santos from the current shipowner through a three-way joint venture company called Avium Subsea ASand started the business effective on November 23. Brazil’s national oil company, Petróleo Brasileiro S.A., has chartered the Skandi Santos from AKOFS since 2010, using it to install subsea facilities in deep-sea oil and gas fields off Brazil.

Wärtsilä Wins Subsea 7 DSV Design Deal

Wärtsilä signed a contract for the design of a new diving support vessel (DSV) to be built for Subsea 7. The new VS 4725 DSV design was created by Wärtsilä Ship Design specifically for this vessel, which will be built at the Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) shipyard in Korea. The contract was signed with HHI in December, and the vessel is scheduled for delivery in 2015. The vessel is intended for North Sea diving operations on a year round basis.

KnifeFish

The U.S. Navy’s Knifefish UUV is a cutting-edge mine hunter, with the ability to find and identify mines, even the most challenging undersea environments. Knifefish is the new Surface Mine Countermeasure (SMCM) Unmanned Undersea Vehicle (UUV), built by General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems of Mcleansville, NC,based upon a Bluefin-21 vehicle from Bluefin Robotics. The systems helps the Navy’s…

Arctic Energy Exploration Efforts Heat Up

Oil and gas—and also mining—are the drivers today propelling Arctic maritime operations and the construction of new vessels able to operate in extreme latitudes. While the gas and oil resources can be recovered in the Arctic or far north and shipped to markets by sea or pipeline, the cost of doing must be balanced upon the global market price for those commodities. Ships and marine structures able…

Advanced Navy Ship, DDG 1000, Progresses

On December 14, 2012, General Dynamics Bath Iron Works, a subsidiary of General Dynamics (NYSE: GD), erected the composite deckhouse for Zumwalt (DDG 1000), the U.S. Navy’s next generation destroyer, and in the process achieved two new milestones in the company’s 128-year history:  a 900-ton, four-crane, static lift of the deckhouse module for DDG 1000, and a record-breaking movement of the ship and deckhouse on the shipyard’s Land Level Transfer Facility…

WHOI Hosts Public Forum and Art Exhibit

No place on the planet is more vulnerable to climate change than the polar regions of the Arctic and the Antarctic. Warming waters and the loss of sea ice are affecting the habitat and food source for many polar species from penguins in Antarctica to polar bears in the Arctic. To discuss these issues, leading scientists in the fields of polar research will convene at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) for a scientific workshop that will also include a free public event and art exhibit.

Boaty McBoatface Completes First Antarctic Mission

The National Oceanography Center’s (NOC) autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) Autosub Long Range (ALR), known affectionately around the world as ‘Boaty McBoatface’, was recovered last month following its first under-ice mission beneath the Filchner Ice Shelf in West Antarctica.From January to February 2018, the AUV was deployed in the southern Weddell Sea during RV Polarstern cruise PS111 as part of the Filchner Ice Shelf System (FISS) Project – a collaboration involving leading U.K.

Shell Ocean Discovery XPrize Field Pared to 9

“We have been mapping what lies beneath the seas for hundreds of years, but we have a very long way to go,” said Dr. Jyotika Virmani, Ph.D., prize lead and senior director of Planet and Environment at XPRIZE in a recent interview with Marine Technology Reporter. And so proceeds the latest Shell Ocean Discovery XPrize, a race to deliver a disruptive solution to a traditional maritime space in a three-year global competition challenging teams to advance ocean technologies for rapid…

TGS to Charter Seismic Vessel Summer 2013

TGS-NOPEC Geophysical Company (TGS) inks Letter of Intent with CGG Veritas to charter a 12-streamer vessel. The vessel is to be chartered for 3D multi-client projects in Europe during the 2013 summer season. The charter will begin in April and last for approximately six months. TGS inform that the details of the individual projects to be completed under this charter will be announced separately. TGS…

Staten Island Ferry LNG Conversion Planned

Plans are in hand to convert one of the two diesel oil-fuelled 'Austen-class' ferries to use Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG). A pilot program conducted on one Staten Island Ferry, if successful, could save the city nearly half the boat's fueling cost annually, reports the 'Staten Island Advance'. An unspecified Austen Class ferry will be converted from using ultra-low-sulfur diesel to liquefied natural gas (LNG) during a routine dry docking in 2013.

Kongsberg Makes Multiple Debuts in London at Oceanology 2014

Kongsberg Maritime announced at OI ‘14 that it will add the new MUNIN AUV to its subsea equipment rental pool in Aberdeen. Expected to be available for hire in October 2014, the MUNIN AUV will further enhance the existing portfolio of Kongsberg Maritime Ltd rental equipment, which supports customers within the offshore oil and gas, environmental and renewable energy markets. The MUNIN AUV is designed to collect high resolution sonar data geo-referenced by a survey grade positioning system.

Yanmar Collaborates on Mass-Production Eel Seedling Tank to Reduce Costs

The Japan Fisheries Research and Education Agency (FRA), Yanmar Holdings Co., Ltd., and Marino-Forum 21 have jointly developed a new tank for the mass production of Japanese eel (Anguilla japonica) seedlings. This initiative is part of a Fisheries Agency-commissioned project titled “Demonstration of Mass-Production System for Commercialization of Eel Seedlings.” The newly developed tank successfully produced approximately 1…

Schmidt Sciences Awards $45M to Carbon Cycle Research

Four teams of scientists will receive up to $45 million over five years for research that advances human understanding of the global carbon cycle driving a changing climate, Schmidt Sciences announced. The teams are the first to be funded through Schmidt Sciences’s Virtual Institute for the Carbon Cycle (VICC).“We are just starting to understand the true extent of humankind’s effect on the intricately woven systems of land, sea and air,” said Wendy Schmidt, co-founder of Schmidt Sciences.

Greensea IQ Expands its Plymouth, MA Production Facility

Greensea IQ celebrated the 25,000 square foot expansion of its Cordage Park production facility on October 17, 2023. This expansion establishes a manufacturing center for the production of several navigation and robotics systems including the Bayonet line of surf zone crawlers, EverClean hull cleaning robots, RNAV3 diver navigation systems and OPENSEA Edge autonomy hardware.“We were excited to open…

Valeport provides boost to Seabed Conservation Project

The largest seagrass restoration, education and innovation project in England, LIFE Recreation ReMEDIES, will receive support from environmental sensor manufacturer, Valeport, for the project’s final two years.The marine conservation project which is led by Natural England, focuses on five Special Areas of Conservation along England’s south coast and Valeport’s sponsorship announcement coincides with an extension to the project which will now run until October 2024.

applied acoustics debuts new USBL Line-up

Family-run applied acoustics launched a new acoustic positioning offering, its first combined Inertial Navigation (INS) and Ultra Short Base Line (USBL) system. The Pyxis system is free of acoustic calibration and can operate without the need of external GPS or Gyro compass, aimed at reducing mobilization time and alignment errors.The company reports that the engineering team have been working to improve the accuracy and performance of the entire Easytrak USBL product range.

Carderock Hosts International Submarine Race

Naval Surface Warfare Center, Carderock Division welcomed the return of the International Submarine Race (ISR) to its David Taylor Model Basin in West Bethesda, Maryland, June 26-30, for the first time since before the COVID-19 Pandemic.Teams from across the United States, Poland, the United Kingdom and Canada arrived at Carderock with their eyes set on one mission: be the fastest human-powered submarine in the competition.The biennial science…

Shearwater Kicks Off Second Round of Pelotas Basin Surveys

Shearwater Geoservices has started the second season of acquisition for the Pelotas Basin multi-client 3D seismic survey in Brazil, conducted in partnership with Searcher Seismic.The new acquisition will be the sixth multi-client 3D project for the joint venture and will utilize the SW Empress, one of the world’s most advanced seismic vessels, to expand the Pelotas survey area beyond 10,000 sq.km.The…

Tech Note: Hydromea D-FIN Electronic Speed Controller

Hydromea launched the D-FIN Electronic Speed Controller (ESC) Motor Controller, engineered to deliver efficiency, compactness, and precision to Hydromea’s DISKDRIVE thrusters and other brushless permanent magnet DC (BLDC) motors in the robotics and equipment space.The controller is built to deliver smooth, silent, and efficient performance to motors. To fit into the smallest robotic vehicles, it can be stacked on a proprietary backplane to optimize space constraints and reduce cabling.