ROVOP Joins ORCA Hub

ROVOP, the global subsea robotics specialist, is the latest company to join the ORCA (Offshore Robotics for Certification of Assets) Hub offshore robotics, artificial intelligence and autonomous systems development program. The ORCA Hub is a consortium of five universities – Heriot-Watt University, University of Edinburgh, University of Liverpool, University of Oxford and Imperial College London –…

VLSFO Oil Spill Remnants Haunt Mauritius Mangroves Three Years Later

Three years after bulk carrier MV Wakashio ran aground on a coral reef off Mauritius, spilling 1000 tons of a new type of marine fuel oil, Curtin University-led research has confirmed the oil is still present in an environmentally sensitive mangrove forest close to Ramsar conservation sites.Lead researcher Dr. Alan Scarlett, from Curtin’s WA Organic and Isotope Geochemistry Center in the School of Earth and Planetary Sciences…

Seaspan Delivers Canada's First OFSV

Seaspan Shipyards has delivered Canada's first new Offshore Fisheries Science Vessels (OFSV), the CCGS Sir John Franklin, to the Canadian Coast Guard (Coast Guard).An official handover ceremony took place aboard the vessel attended by the Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard, senior officials from the Coast Guard, Seaspan and supply chain partners.The delivery of the first OFSV…

New, High-Performing USV for Ocean Surveying

A new unmanned surface vehicle (USV) designed for the Chinese market offers an open and low-cost platform to measure water current and direction. Nortek China has integrated Doppler instrumentation on the vehicle to help better meet user requirements for ocean surveying.The new USV has an IPC (Industrial Personal Computer) as the main operation platform and uses Remote Desktop, a remote control technique, to communicate with all the instruments installed.

UK Ocean Technologies Expo Biggest Yet

Ocean Business 2013 at the National Oceanography Centre in Southampton will welcome 300+ worldwide companies to its upcomeng show. One of the most exciting elements of the show is that visitors can actually see equipment in action and ‘test-drive’ products before they purchase. This year’s Ocean Business is running an unmissable programme of free training and demonstrations, running over 180 hours where leading companies will introduce new products, technologies and techniques.

AutoNaut Completes a 16-week, 4,000-mile Mission on the Atlantic continental shelf break

AutoNaut ‘Oban’ arrives quietly into Penzance after waiting out Storm Arwen off Mount’s Bay. The 115-day voyage covered 4,000 nautical miles gathering data on the Atlantic shelf break from the Hebrides to Cornwall.A proving trial for ‘AutoNaut for Extreme Environments’ in autumn 2021 saw the 5m uncrewed surface vessel (USV) spend 16 weeks at sea and cover over 4,000 nautical miles on the continental shelf break in the Atlantic.

Subsea UK: Exploring Underwater Robotics

Companies are being invited to highlight the advances in underwater robotic technology, including developments in Artificial Intelligence (AI), autonomy and communication, at Subsea UK’s Underwater Robotics conference in Aberdeen later this year. Sponsored by ROVOP and Saab Seaeye, the one day event will look at the new technology being developed by the industry and the potential which exists for advances…

Canada's New Observatory Uses 'Seafloor GPS'

A major new seabed observatory that will provide critical information about earthquake and tsunami hazards is to be deployed offshore Vancouver, Canada, using long endurance acoustic sensing technology supplied by Sonardyne International Ltd.The new Northern Cascadia Subduction Zone Observatory (NCSZO) will use a “seafloor GPS” network to monitor long-term movements of the subducting Juan de Fuca plate and overriding North American tectonic plate.

Efficient Wave-Generated Power … Really!

Wave-generated power could be considered the Rodney Dangerfield of offshore renewable energy sources; it gets no respect. There have been a number of high-profile, expensive failures that have conspired to give the sector a poor reputation despite a number of engineering advances. A new entrant is SurfWEC offering a patented “surf-making” Wave Energy Converter which has been in development since 2007. Its developers promise it will stand out from the field and perform where others have failed.

Inside the Subsea Cable Firm Secretly Helping America Take on China

On Feb. 10 last year, the cable ship CS Dependable appeared off the coast of the island of Diego Garcia, an Indian Ocean atoll that’s home to a discreet U.S. naval base.Over the next month, the ship’s crew covertly laid an underwater fiber-optic cable to the military base, an operation code-named “Big Wave,” according to four people with direct knowledge of the mission, as well as a Reuters analysis of satellite imagery and ship tracking data.The new super-fast internet link to Diego Garcia…

Ukraine's Drone Success Shapes US Pacific 'Hellscape' Strategy

On a website run by the Ukrainian security service, donors anywhere in the world can pledge money to build Ukraine's cutting-edge "Sea Baby" unmanned maritime drones.It is a slick, professional site offering donors the chance to sign up for newsletters or even name the drone themselves if they donate the full $220,000 cost.Only six meters (20 feet) long and 60 cm (two feet) high above the water level…

Teledyne Marine Adds iOne Resources as Philippines Distributor

Marine scientific instrumentation and solutions company Teledyne Marine announced it has tapped iOne Resources Inc. as its new official distributor in the Philippines.iOne Resources Inc. will represent several key Teledyne Marine brands, including RESON, PDS, ODOM Hydrographic, Bowtech, Gavia, Oceanscience, RD Instruments, TSS and BlueView. The company will provide sales and support for the following…

Missing Submarine Found Broken Up, 53 Dead

A missing Indonesian submarine has been found, broken into at least three parts, at the bottom of the Bali Sea, army and navy officials said on Sunday, as the president sent condolences to relatives of the 53 crew.Rescuers also found new objects, including a life vest, that they believe belong to those aboard the 44-year old KRI Nanggala-402, which lost contact on Wednesday as it prepared to conduct a torpedo drill."Based on the evidence…

Kraken Sonar Begins Trading Today

Kraken Sonar Inc. announced the start of trading today at the opening of the TSX Venture Exchange, following the previously announced acquisition of all of the issued and outstanding shares of Kraken Sonar Systems Inc., constituting the qualifying transaction of the company, and subsequent name change. Kraken was founded in 2012 with the objective of commercializing a software-centric version of Synthetic Aperture Sonar (SAS) technology…

Kongsberg Establishes Separate Ocean Mapping Business Area

Kongsberg has established a new business area, Kongsberg Discovery, for its advanced robotics and sensor technology designed to map, monitor and understand the ocean space.The new business area has more than thousand employees located in Horten, Trondheim and Oslo in Norway, in addition to offices in Spain, the UK, the US, Canada, Singapore and Malaysia. Previously Sensors and Robotics was a division under Kongsberg Maritime."Ocean covers 70 % of the earth's surface.

Subsea Wreck Brought to Life by Lasers

An innovative underwater survey technique that integrates photogrammetry with Subsea laser LiDAR (SL) technology has helped create accurate, precise, reverse engineered 3D models of a rare and historically significant aircraft resting at the bottom of the sea.The technique was developed during an October 2018 expedition with the nonprofit Air/Sea Heritage Foundation to document the largely intact wreck…

World First: Video Broadcast Live from Underwater

Pioneering subsea communications technology has enabled the world's first live broadcast stream to global audiences from an underwater submersible.Underwater technology company Sonardyne International said the international news agency Associated Press (AP) used its BlueComm wireless through-water optical modem technology to broadcast live from a two-person submersible operating in waters off the Seychelles, in the Indian Ocean.

Oi Americas Set for San Diego

Filmmaker James Cameron to open future-focused Catch the Next Wave conference with specially made welcome videoAfter 50 years as a mouthpiece and marketplace for the most transformative developments in ocean science and technology, Oceanology International (Oi) is due to celebrate its half-century with the Oceanology International Americas 2019 (OiA ‘19) conference and exhibition in the San Diego Convention Center…

Sonomatic Expands in Aberdeen

Services company Sonomatic announced it plans to expand radiography capacity within its base at The Core, Bridge of Don, bringing the total number of bays available to five.Sonomatic, a provider of advanced and conventional NDT inspections, engineering, integrity and rope access services, said the buildout is in response to an increased demand for its NDT inspection services in the northeast of Scotland.The…

Sercel Launches New Ocean Bottom Node

CGG's equipment business Sercel has launched GPR, a new ocean bottom node (OBN) jointly developed in partnership with BGP and designed to leverage Sercel’s QuietSeis broadband digital sensor technology for reservoir characterization and field development efforts.Sercel and BGP have drawn on their longstanding partnership and complementary seismic expertise and experience to design, develop and deploy GPR.