Ocean Innovation Leaders Convene to Advance U.S. Coastal and Blue Economy Solutions

VentureWell, a global nonprofit dedicated to fostering innovation for lasting social impact, convened fifteen bluetech startups from across the country and other ocean innovation leaders in Rhode Island to kick off the first stage of the VentureWell Ocean Enterprise Accelerator.Supported by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), VentureWell is championing these innovators as they…

Sonardyne, Echoview Software Collaborate to Enhance ADCPs

Sonardyne, a global leader in underwater technology solutions, announced the addition of the echosounder feature to its Origin acoustic Doppler current profilers (ADCPs), significantly enhancing their ability to collect comprehensive marine environmental data in a single deployment.This new capability enhances offshore environmental monitoring by enabling simultaneous measurement of water velocities and biological activity…

NOAA Engages Fugro for Hydrographic Survey Services

Fugro has secured a new five-year contract by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for hydrographic survey services.Under this indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract, Fugro will support the creation and maintenance of nautical charts, which ensure safe and efficient maritime navigation within U.S. waters.Projects can be assigned to any of the six companies holding…

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…

Thales Invests to Advance Autonomy

Thales is announcing a major commitment to develop future autonomous and unmanned technology across air and sea by investing in two new UK-based trials and training centers. Following Thales’s successful trials during the Royal Navy’s Unmanned Warrior exercise in 2016, Thales is now investing in two trials and training centres based in West Wales and in South-West England to test and develop autonomous systems for both military and civil activities.

Floating Offshore Wind Turbine Design Passes ABS Review

The American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) has completed the design review of the Front End Engineering and Design (FEED) documentation for the VolturnUS, a floating offshore wind turbine (FOWT), developed by the University of Maine Advanced Structures and Composites Center. “UMaine is pleased that its innovative design became the first floating wind turbine concrete semisubmersible hull to be reviewed by ABS, and found to meet the ABS requirements,” said Dr. Habib J.

Ping DSP Releases MBES Mode Bathymetry Software

Aiming to raise the bar for shallow water mapping and imaging, Ping DSP has introduced its new MBES Bathymetry Engine. With a useable swath width of up to 14 times water depth, the 3DSS brings accurate, wide swath echo sounding to shallow water and provides the same operational and bathymetric performance benefits of Multibeam Echosounders but over the larger swath. Ping DSP said the new MBES Mode…

Advanced Monitoring Proves Its Capabilities Offshore

New monitoring technology developed by RED Engineering has been used for the first time to improve accuracy, speed and safety during the installation of jacket foundations for wind turbines at the Beatrice Offshore Wind Farm Ltd project in the Moray Firth, Scotland. The development by the North East-based firm of engineers features remote proximity sensors to confirm the correct engagement of an internal lifting tool (ILT) in use by Seaway Heavy Lifting, a Subsea 7 company.

New Remotely Operated Hydrographic Survey Boat

Teledyne Oceanscience has introduced a new remotely operated hydrographic survey boat suited for inland waters such as streams, rivers and lakes. The new trimaran style Z-Boat 1250 is “sturdy enough for tough terrain but light enough to be one person portable,” according to Teledyne. The vehicle has a lightweight hull manufactured from acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) plastic, and is IP67 rated, which makes it well suited to survey in most water conditions.

Maersk Drilling Secures Nexen Contract

Danish driller Maersk Drilling has been awarded a contract by Nexen Petroleum for the drilling of three wells and options for nine additional wells at UK’s largest producing oil field, the Buzzard field in the Central North Sea. The drilling campaign is for the Buzzard Phase II Development Project and is planned to commence around July 2018. The estimated duration of the initial firm contract period is 225 days.

Aerial Drones Take Flight Offshore

Oil and gas companies are using unmanned aircraft system (UAS) technology to improve safety and efficiency in a growing range of applications, from infrastructure and maintenance inspection to security, emergency response and environmental and regulatory compliance. Today’s UAS programs are supported by payloads including high-definition video equipment, high-resolution still cameras, thermal imaging cameras and emission sensors – and there are many ways…

Wärtsilä Introduces its Smart Marine Ecosystem Vision

The smart technology group Wärtsilä is at the forefront of harnessing the changes taking place in the shipping industry to deliver value and optimisation for its customers. By orchestrating these developments through the use of high levels of connectivity and digitalisation, Wärtsilä intends to lead the industry’s transformation towards a Smart Marine Ecosystem. “The world is moving towards a future that is more and more connected, and nowhere is this more apparent than in the shipping sector.

Valeport MIDAS SVX2 Selected by Saab Kockums

Oceanographic, hydrographic and hydrometric instrumentation manufacturer Valeport said it has secured a contract to supply four customized MIDAS SVX2 probes to Saab Kockums. The MIDAS SVX2 is an advanced probe, combining sound velocity with salinity and density technologies to provide a versatile instrument which delivers superior data profiles. The MIDAS SVX2 was selected for its commercial off the shelf (COTS) status which contributed to project cost and lead time efficiency, Valeport said.

Rovco Secures Funding for 3D Visualization Project

Subsea technology company Rovco said it has secured Innovate UK funding to develop a cutting-edge 3D visualization system as part of a two-part Artificial Intelligence demonstrator project potentially worth £1 million. Working in partnership with the Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult, the first phase of the project will see Rovco develop the equipment and software required to produce live 3D data from challenging and extreme subsea environments.

Big Data, 3D Printing and Robots

Commandant of the Marine Corps (CMC) Gen. Robert B. Neller recently visited the Office of Naval Research (ONR) to get a close-up look at some of the latest technologies being developed for the U.S. Marine Corps—from autonomous systems to virtual reality training devices. During his visit, Neller met with Chief of Naval Research Rear Adm. Mat Winter, as well as department heads and program officers, and expressed his appreciation for the science and technology being designed for the future force.

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.

iXblue Offers a Full Range of INS for All AUV Types

With Phins C3, C5 and C7 range, iXblue now provides fully scalable systems that cover all inertial navigation needs for any size of AUV. Based on iXblue’s silent true solid state Fiber-Optic Gyroscope technology, the Phins Compact Family guarantees high accuracy, unrivalled reliability and proved robustness. The iXblue’s Phins Compact Family has been designed to offer the AUV industry players the ability to choose an inertial navigation system adapted to their vehicle…

Fiber-rope Retrofit Extends Subsea Crane Capabilities

MacGregor, part of Cargotec, has launched a fiber-rope retrofit option for its subsea cranes; the modular upgrade replaces the crane's original steel wire rope with synthetic fiber rope, using the same technology as MacGregor’s fiber-rope crane, the FiberTrac 1500, introduced earlier this year. These cranes combine MacGregor's offshore crane technology with the fiber-rope tensioning technology perfected by Parkburn Precision Handling Systems.

Ocean Cleanup Prototype Set for a Test Run

The first ocean cleanup system ever tested at sea will soon be deployed for trials 23 kilometers (12 NM) off the Dutch coast. The goal of the test is to see how the floating barrier design is able to cope in extreme weather at sea during a 12-month period. The Ocean Cleanup, a Dutch foundation developing advanced technologies to rid the oceans of plastic, unveiled its North Sea prototype today in the presence of The Netherlands government…

Charting the Shift of Oceanic Boundary Currents

Global warming results in fundamental changes to important ocean currents. As scientists from the Alfred-Wegener-Institute show in a new study, wind-driven subtropical boundary currents in the northern and southern hemisphere are not only going to increase in strength by the end of this century. The Kuroshio Current, the Agulhas Current and other oceanic currents are shifting their paths towards the pole and thus carry higher temperatures and thus the risk of storms to temperate latitudes.