MTR100 '13 Battelle

At major technology centers and national laboratories around the world, Battelle conducts cutting-edge research and development, designs and manufactures products, and delivers critical services for government and commercial customers. Battelle, the world’s largest independent research and development organization, is headquartered in Columbus, Ohio. Founded in 1929, Battelle operates in three broad areas: National Security; Energy, Health and Environment; and Laboratory Management.

TGS Expands NE Greenland Seismic Survey

The 2D seismic survey will enable customers to prepare for the announced Greenland Licensing Round in 2013/2014. The seismic data is being acquired by the M/V Akademik Shatskiy supported by the ice breaker M/V Viking Balder. A helicopter is being utilized for ice density monitoring. Data processing will be performed by TGS and data will be available to clients in Q1 2014. The survey, NEG13, will enable customers to prepare for the announced Greenland Licensing Round in 2013/2014.

Floatel Orders Fifth Keppel Accommodation Semi

Keppel FELS Ltd. was awarded a contract worth about $280 million by Floatel International Ltd. to build its fifth accommodation semisubmersible (semi) for delivery in the fourth quarter of 2015. Keppel FELS previously delivered the accommodation semis, Floatel Superior and Floatel Reliance, in 2010 and is currently constructing two more: Floatel Victory and Floatel Endurance. The new semi will be a sister vessel to Floatel Victory and will be built to Keppel's proprietary SSAUTM5000NG design.

PORTS System to be Installed in Jacksonville

Woods Hole Group will be working with the Jacksonville Marine Transportation Exchange (JMTX) for the installation, operations and maintenance of a large-scale Physical Oceanographic Real Time System (PORTS) in Jacksonville, Florida. NOAA PORTS is a network of sensors in ports and harbor providing access to information that improves maritime commerce and safety. Upon completion, JXPORTS networks will be the second largest PORTS installation in the country.

DOF Extends VSAT Contract with Marlink

DOF Group has renewed its VSAT (Very Small Aperture Terminal) services contract with Marlink for five more years, with options to further extend the services. Under the new contract announced at Nor-Shipping 2015, Marlink will provide customized VSAT services to 60 DOF owned offshore and subsea vessels, counting an additional eight vessels on the previous contract, including several imminent newbuilds.

Sound Velocity Profiling System Launched

Teledyne Oceanscience has announced the launch of rapidCAST, an automated sound velocity (SV) profiling system for moving vessels. With the capability to automatically cast and recover a high quality SV probe to 500 meters at 8 knots without an operator on deck, rapidCAST offers many of the benefits previously only available from large costly towed profilers while simultaneously giving surveyors the convenience and cost savings of a small and portable unit that is easy to mobilize…

MTR100 '13 LinkQuest Inc.

San Diego, Calif., U.S. LinkQuest Inc., of San Diego, Calif., manufactures precision acoustic instruments for offshore oil exploration, construction, drilling, survey, environmental study and other oceanographic applications. The company’s acoustic communication and positioning products are based on the innovative Broadband Acoustic Spread Spectrum (BASS) Technology and are widely used worldwide. LinkQuest’s…

Submersible Cyclops : Hull Design "Revolutionary"

OceanGate Inc. announced the completion of the initial carbon fiber hull design and feasibility study for its next generation manned submersible – Cyclops. Under a contract issued to Boeing Research & Technology (BR&T), OceanGate, the Applied Physics Laboratory at the University of Washington (APL-UW) and Boeing have validated the basic hull design for a submersible vehicle able to reach depths of 3,000 meters.

Jee to Host Subsea Installation Analysis Webinar

Webinar to focus on optimizing subsea installation analysis, helping companies minimize offshore time and costs. Jee Ltd., an independent subsea engineering and training company, will draw on its subsea installation analysis experience to host a free-to-attend webinar exploring the topic on September 11, 2014. Taking place globally, the webinar – “Optimizing Installation Analysis – a Pragmatic Approach” - will be presented by Jee Subsea Engineer…

GC Rieber Charter Agreement with Reach Subsea

GC Rieber Shipping ASA has entered into a time charter agreement with Reach Subsea for the CSV Polar King to support Norwegian University for Science and Technology’s (NTNU) scientific operation under the MarMine Project in the mid-Atlantic ridge. The project will deploy ROV, AUV and grabs for seabed mapping and sampling for geological and biological research related to marine mining. Estimated duration is three weeks.

The Autonomous Future of Seabed Mapping

No longer can we truly say “95 percent of the ocean is left unexplored.” In fact, thanks to advances in satellite monitoring by pioneers such as David Sandwell and colleagues, we now have coverage of the entire ocean. While these maps are only at a resolution of around 5 kilometers – less than current global maps of Mars and Venus – it has given us submarine topography data in locations we weren’t able to access previously.

IMarEST Supports Research into Collaborative Autonomous Fleets

Thompson holds a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Naval Architecture, and is a PhD candidate at the Australian Maritime College of the University of Tasmania. Greg Hellessey from the IMarEST’s Victoria Branch said that Thompson’s research was chosen because of its global potential: “Out of all the applications from across Australia, Fletcher’s was an absolute stand-out in that it was clear it would be ground-breaking work at a national and international level.

SCRIPPS Procures ROV from Shark Marine

SCRIPPS institution of OCEANOGRAPHY, an oceanic research institution on the southwestern coast of the United States, has acquired a Shark Marine Barracuda ROV. The Barracuda will be used in conjunction with the Shark Marine Navigator, procured by the institute a couple years back. The Barracuda is a high power, lightweight two man deployable ROV, packed with technology and plenty of thrust to get the job done. The ROV can operate at multiple power levels, from 2,000 to 6,000 watts.

BP Doubles Down on Deepwater

About 300 BP workers commute 150 miles here by helicopter, from the Louisiana coast to a deep-sea drilling platform that can produce more oil in a day than a West Texas rig can pump in a year. On the deck of Thunder Horse, they work two-week shifts, drink seawater from a desalination plant, and eat ribs and chicken ferried in by boat. On the ocean floor, robots provide remote eyes and arms as drills extract up to 265,000 barrels per day.

Saab Seaeye: Meeting the Challenges of Renewables

The renewable industry presents special challenges for underwater robotic vehicle operations with its shallow waters, high currents, intricate structures and, in some locations, unexploded ordnance. Saab Seaeye has found good success in the sector with a range of vehicles specially suited for the challenging tasks involved in building and maintaining the structures and interconnections. With a range of robotic systems that are ideally suited for the sector.

CoPilot Retrofitted onto Falcon ROV

SeeByte, a creator of smart software for unmanned maritime systems, announced that Heriot-Watt University has integrated CoPilot with its Seaeye Falcon 1256, an observation-class ROV. With assistance from Heriot-Watt University’s Ocean Systems Laboratory personnel, the SeeByte team integrated and tuned the system to operate with a Teledyne RDI Workhorse Navigator 600 KHz DVL. The work was conducted over a two day period including testing in Heriot-Watt University’s wave tank.

Optech to Present at OI China

Optech announced that it will attend the Oceanology International China 2014 conference in Shanghai, September 3-5, where Dr. Joong Yong Park will discuss coastal mapping trends and how new advanced data fusion techniques using data from a high-power green lidar and a hyperspectral sensor are providing unprecedented coastal environment information. Optech will also be exhibiting with sister Teledyne Marine companies in booth B50, where Dr. Park, Optech, Inc.

Policy Uncertainty Threatens to Slow Renewable Energy Momentum

IEA forecast sees renewable power as a cost-competitive option in an increasing number of cases, but facing growing risks to deployment over the medium term. The expansion of renewable energy will slow over the next five years unless policy uncertainty is diminished, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said today in its third annual Medium-Term Renewable Energy Market Report. According to the report…

Z-Boat Shipped to University of Washington Tacoma

Teledyne Oceanscience has shipped a custom Z-Boat 1800-RP to The University of Washington Tacoma to be used by Dr. Dan Shugar, Assistant Professor of Geoscience, when he heads out on two remote locations in Alaska and Canada this summer. The custom integration for the University of Washington Tacoma included the Rugged Z-Boat 1800RP, Teledyne Odom Hydrographic MB2 Multibeam, Teledyne RD Instruments RiverPro ADCP, a camera, IMU and onboard computer.

A Tool for Advancing Environmental Academic Research

Researchers at the Institute of Oceanology in Qingdao, China, are using the Signature55 current profiler to improve the understanding of El Niño and advance their environmental academic research. “Information about Western Boundary Currents in the lower latitudes of the Pacific and their influence on low frequency pulsing of warm currents are vital for scientific research. But so far we have had insufficient…