MarineBuzz.com » Marine Tech

Scarlet Knight: First Submersible Robot Glider to Cross Atlantic Ocean

OldSailor — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 18:22:08 +0000

Scarlet Knight is the first submersible robotic glider to cross the Atlantic Ocean. The glider Scarlet Knight reached the port city of Baiona, Spain on December 09, 2009 by remaining at sea for 221 days to cover a distance of 7,389 km.

Some interesting features of Scarlet Knight are:

A joint project by Rutgers University (The Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences) New Jersey and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
The glider was launched on April 27, 2009 off the coast of Tuckerton, NJ and was recovered on December 04, 2009 by MV Investigador of Spain.
The glider collected data on ocean temperatures and currents while crossing the Atlantic Ocean.
Scarlet Knight is the latest version of Slocum Electric glider series, designed by Teledyne-Webb Research.
Also known as RU 27, an advanced version of RU 17.

View amazing photographs of Scarlet Knight recovery in Spain from sea.

View an interesting documentary video clip: Atlantic Crossing – a robot’s daring mission – Dena Seidel

View one more video clip: We are going to fly a glider!

Read more about Scarlet Knight – RU 27.

BEA France Recommends Changes to Underwater Locator Beacon (ULB) in Flight Recorders

OldSailor — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 18:01:18 +0000

The BEA (Bureau d’Enquêtes et d’Analyses pour la sécurité de l’aviation civile), the French agency investigating the accident of Air France (AF) Flight 447 on June 01 over the Atlantic Ocean, has released the second Interim Report on December 17.

The search for locating the Flight Recorders and the aircraft wreckage in the Atlantic Ocean was carried out in two phases from June 10 to July 10 (phase 1) and from July 27 to August 17 (phase 2). The Flight Recorders could not be located from the ocean.

Now the BEA has recommended near-term, medium-term, long-term solutions to European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) on aircrafts on public transport flights.

The recommendations are:

near-term solution to implement as early as possible:
- to extend the regulatory transmission time for Underwater Locator Beacon (ULB) installed on flight recorders of aircrafts on public transport flights over maritime areas to 90 days from the existing 30 days.
- to make it mandatory for aircrafts on public transport flights over maritime areas, be equipped with an additional ULB capable of transmitting on a frequency (for example between 8.5 kHz and 9.5 kHz) and for a duration adapted to the pre-localisation of wreckage.
medium-term solution: to study the possibility of making it mandatory for aircrafts on public transport flights to regularly transmit basic flight data like position, altitude, speed, heading to Air Traffic Control.
long-term solution: ICAO to ask the FLIRECP(19) group to establish proposals on the conditions for implementing deployable recorders of the Eurocae ED-112 type for airplanes performing public transport flights.

Also it is being planned to commence the third phase of search operations, to locate the Flight Recorders from February 2010 onwards for sixty days.

Read the full report from BEA as pdf.

For more details, log on to BEA.

Green Ship USS Makin Island (LHD 8) Ready for Commissioning

OldSailor — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 17:44:24 +0000

USS Makin Island is ready for commissioning on October 24 at Naval Air Station North Island.
USS Makin Island, the final amphibious assault ship built in the LHD-1 Wasp-class is considered as the green ship because

Makin Island is the first of the class built with both gas turbines and an electric drive as Auxiliary Propulsion System (APS).
The ship will be using APS for roughly 75 percent of the time the ship is underway and is expected to save nearly $250 million in fuel costs over the ship’s lifetime.
The ship has already saved more than $2 million in fuel costs during the ships transit from Pascagoula, Miss., to San Diego.
The ship has other environmentally-friendly equipments like
- an electric plant to power auxiliaries thereby avoiding steam or associated chemicals.
- reverse osmosis water purification systems to avoid the need for chemicals like bromine or chlorine.

Canada: NTS Nanosatellite Successfully Monitors IUU Fishing

OldSailor — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 17:42:19 +0000

Canada’s Nanosatellite Tracking of Ships (NTS) project has started showing results. exactEarth Ltd., has successfully used its space-based AIS (Automatic Identification System) technology, exactAIS, to assist the Canadian Forces (CF) and Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) to monitor Illegal Unregulated Unreported Fishing (IUU) activity in the Pacific Ocean.

Some interesting features of NTS Nanosatellite, exactAIS and IUU are:

NTS Nanosatellite
- Part of Canadian Advanced Nanospace eXperiment 6 (CanX-6) program to demonstrate key elements of exactEarth space-based AIS detection technology.
- Developed by University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies (UTIAS)/Space Flight Laboratory (SFL).
- Launched in April, 2008 through Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) C9 from ISRO,India.
exactEarth Ltd., and exactAIS
- A subsidiary of COM DEV International Ltd.
- Precise, secure, reliable global vessel tracking and monitoring system using space-based advanced AIS detection technology.
- Capable of detecting and identifying ships from space rapidly over a wide area.
- Announced plans to launch a constellation of larger microsatellites and offer a full-scale, commercial AIS data service beginning in 2010.
Illegal Unregulated Unreported Fishing (IUU)
- Nets up to 40-kilometres length are used in high seas (driftnet fishing) to catch everything in their path that results in depletion of valuable marine fish resource.
- Driftnet fishing is being carried out in violation to the United Nations’ moratorium on driftnet fishing since 1992.
- Canada through Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) is actively monitoring IUU fishing.

Marine Pipelines Repair Kit: HydraWrap System from Hydra Tech

OldSailor — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 17:55:14 +0000

HydraTech Engineered Products, Inc., has marine pipe repair kit to repair pipelines onboard. This kit helps to carryout preventive maintenance to avoid major failure at sea. Repairs can be carried out with common tools in less than 30 minutes.

Some interesting features of this marine pipe repair kit – HydraWrap system are:

is a CFRP (Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer) which incorporates high performance epoxies and carbon fiber fabric into an ultra high strength composite repair.
can be used onboard without any hot work or any special tools.
comes complete with all required materials and directions for repairs of specific fittings and straight pipe sizes up to 24”.
also designed for elbow, tee joint repairs and for bulkhead patching.
engineered to ASME Standards and ABS Design Approved.
available as: Standard HydraWrap, High Temp HydraWrap, Acid Resistant HydraWrap.
will develop full physical properties within 24 hours of application.

Here is a photograph of a pipeline tee joint before and after repair with HydraWrap.

For more details, log on to HydraTech-Marine HydraWrap System.

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Latest GPS Speedo from Wema

OldSailor — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 17:46:59 +0000

Wema has launched the latest GPS Speedo that works on GPS signals.

Some interesting features of Wema’s GPS Speedo are:

displays speed analogically (SOG-Speed over Ground) and compass heading (Course over Ground) digitally.
an instrument with high-end 32 channel GPS Receiver.
display is independent of vessel’s engine control and monitoring systems, sea conditions.
plug and play, standalone, easy to install unit that works on 12V dc.
available in 30 knots and 60 knots version.

GPS Speedo is different from Electro Magnetic (EM) speed log that uses a transducer mounted on the ship’s hull (bottom – below water line) to measure the speed of the vessel. The latest EM logs have provision for GPS signal inputs.

For more details, log on to Wema.

Post in MarineBuzz on this day a year before:

India Shipping Summit 2008 is Ready to Start at Mumbai

India: ISRO Launches Oceansat-2 Satellite

OldSailor — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 18:02:59 +0000

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully launched Oceansat-2 satellite on September 23 from Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) SHAR, Sriharikota, 90 km north of Chennai.

Some interesting features of the launch and Oceansat-2 are:

Launched by ISRO’s PSLV-C14 (Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle) at 11:51 am IST.
Sixteenth mission of PSLV and its fifteenth consecutive success.
Launched as a replacement to 1050 kg IRS-P4 (Oceansat-1), that was launched on May 26, 1999 with Ocean Colour Monitor (OCM) and a Multi-frequency Scanning Microwave Radiometer (MSMR) for oceanographic studies.
Oceansat-2 satellite
- Weighs 960 kg and powered by 15 Sq.metre solar panels to generate 1360 W with two 24 Ah Ni-Cd Batteries.
- Injected into orbit at 1081 seconds after lift-off at an altitude of 728 km.
- Sixteenth remote sensing satellite of India.
- Carries three payloads: Ocean Colour Monitor (OCM); Ku-band Pencil Beam scatterometer (SCAT) developed by ISRO; Radio Occultation Sounder for Atmosphere (ROSA) developed by the Italian Space Agency.
- OCM: the eight band OCM images a swath (strip of land or ocean) of 1420 km width with a resolution of 360 metre and works in the Visible and Near Infrared region of the electromagnetic spectrum.
- SCAT: the Ku-band Scatterometer with a 1 metre diameter antenna rotating at 20 rpm, works at a frequency of 13.515 GHz; the Scatterometer covers a swath of 1400 km and operates continuously.
- ROSA: GPS Receiver for atmospheric sounding by radio occultation.
- Helps to identify potential fishing zones and can provide inputs for weather forecasting.
- Mission life: 5 years

Along with Oceansat-2, six nano satellites in 2-8 kg range (Cubesat 1, 2, 3, 4 and Rubin 9.1 and 9.2) for international customers were placed into a polar Sun Synchronous Orbit (SSO).

View a video clip: ISRO launches Oceansat-2, 6 European satellites

Read more from ISRO: press release, Oceansat-2.

Above Oceansat-2 image is from ISRO.

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Norway: Space Based Automatic Identification System by NORAIS and AISSat-1 Nano Satellite

OldSailor — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 17:50:15 +0000

Norway is getting ready to test space based Automatic Identification System (AIS) to track ships at sea. The space based testing is going to be done from International Space Station (ISS) and from a nanosatellite. Present AIS operates on VHF (Very High Frequency) signals and has range restriction of approximately 50 km.

Some interesting features of space based AIS by Norway are:

Space based tracking helps to track ships at sea globally with wider coverage area.
Developed jointly by the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment (FFI), Kongsberg Seatex in cooperation with other partners.
NORAIS (Norwegian Automatic Identification System)
- Instrument has reached this month through the Japanese H-2 Transfer Vehicle to International Space Station for installation in Columbus, the European space laboratory on the International Space Station. Project is called as Columbus Automatic Identification System (COLAIS).
- Testing will start next year after fixing a specially constructed antennae outside Columbus in November this year.
- To be operated by FFI. N-USOC in Trondheim, Norway will collect data from the instrument and send it to FFI every hour.
- Has a viewing range of more than 4000 km covering the ocean areas between 70 degrees North and 70 degrees South several times a day.

AISSat-1
- 6 kg nanosatellite, being constructed by University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies (UTIAS)/Space Flight Laboratory (SFL).
- Expected to be launched this year to operate in a high inclination, low Earth orbit.
- To perform similar operations like NORAIS, but the data will be downloaded in real time under different conditions.

from Norwegian Space Centre: Ship tracking from the ISS
from Norwegian Defence Research Establishment: Norwegian ship tracking instrument arrives at international space station
from UTIAS/SFL: The AISSat-1 Mission

Above NORAIS instrument photograph is from FFI.

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Weekend View: Operational Floating Wind Turbine – Hywind

OldSailor — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 18:23:49 +0000

The world’s first full-scale floating wind turbine, Hywind pilot is operational in the North Sea from September 08. Hywind pilot of StatoilHydro comprises a 2.3 megawatt wind turbine operating from a float used for applications like oil production platforms and offshore loading. Siemens Wind Power company in Denmark has manufactured the turbine, France’s Technip has built the float and Nexans has laid the power cable to land.

Here is a photograph from StatoilHydro.

View an interesting video clip: Hywind, worlds first offshore floating windmill (go HQ!)

Read more from StatoilHydro press release.

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BAE Systems Reveal Anti Sea Piracy Systems

OldSailor — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 18:25:52 +0000

BAE systems has developed a sophisticated electronic early warning system to combat piracy on the high seas.

Some interesting features of the system revealed during Defence Systems & Equipment International (DSEi) 2009 being held (September 8-11) at London are:

Utilized its expertise in the defence, security and aerospace sectors to develop the system to detect suspected pirate vessels at a long range of 25 km.
Long range detection gives ships crew enough time to take preventive/offensive actions against suspected piracy vessels.
The system’s current capabilities include:
- High Frequency Surface Wave Radar (HF SWR) to detect small boats well beyond the horizon at up to 25 km.
- Panoramic Area Surveillance System (PASS) 360° video camera and display system for visual identification, movement detection, threat level alarms. Integrating with infra-red systems for detection is also being taken up.
- Passive Radar Identification System (PRISM) to provide early warning of an unidentified radar carrying vessel.
- Laser Dome: Improved lighting to increase the likelihood of detecting intruders within the immediate vicinity of the ship at night and act as a deterrent.

Here are some more graphics of Anti Sea Piracy systems from BAE Systems:

HF SWR 300 KM Technology and Blowout

PASS Technology and Blowout.

PRISM Technology and Blowout

Laser Dome 500 M Technology and Blowout.

Fine tuning of the system is being done by coordinating with major ship owners to assess commercial requirements and security agencies so as to bring out the most effective solution to sea piracy. Technology and capability sea trials are expected to take place in early 2010.

Read more from BAE Systems news release.

All the above images are from BAE Systems – DSEI 2009.

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Mobile WiMAX: BATS Demonstrates Ship to Ship Wireless Broadband Communications Tracking System

OldSailor — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 17:30:42 +0000

Broadband Antenna Tracking Systems (BATS) has successfully demonstrated ship-to-ship wireless broadband communications tracking system using their BTS-2500 units with two wireless broadband radios.

Some interesting features of BATS and Ship to Ship demonstration are:

has developed the software and hardware technology for broadband communication systems for mobile or fixed platforms.
the BTS-2500 System consists of a modular computer-controlled positioning unit along with the Hardened Antenna Control Unit (HACU) or Rack Mount Control Unit (RMCU).
aims, finds and locks in on an access point automatically in seconds.
maintains continuous tracking without the use of a global positioning systems (GPS) or coordinates.
saves time and resources used for manual adjusting or resetting of antenna as in conventional systems.
has integrated servo positioning units, predictive search and tracking algorithms, to match with any wireless broadband system.
can be rapidly deployed and can be used as an extension of a wireless network without relying on expensive, low-bandwidth satellite communications.
useful for communication between moving vehicles on land, water and in air to access critical broadband communications resources i.e. data ,voice and streaming video in real time.
suitable as mobile WiMAX for Ship to Shore and Ship to Ship communications.

ship to ship demonstration:
- was conducted on the Sea of Marmara as a cost effective communications tracking system with high bandwidth and low latency to cover great distances to a fleet of ships.
- the tracking systems were mounted on the main mast of each ship at a height of 16 metres above the sea level.
- the system automatically repositioned the directional broadband antenna mounted on the vessel to maintain a wireless broadband network session quickly, locked in and were able to track each other with satisfactory RSSI (Received Signal Strength Indication).
- the communication was successful for ships simultaneously moving at speeds up to 13 knots and at distances up to 44 kilo metres apart.
- video surveillance and IP telephone applications ran perfectly with a stable bandwidth of 4.5 Mbps and a maximum latency experience of less than 5 milliseconds.

Samsung Introduces Marine Mobile Phone

OldSailor — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 18:13:22 +0000

Samsung has introduced a marine model B 2100 phone. The specifications indicate that this model is India specific to withstand monsoon, dust and heat. The price is around INR 7000.

Some interesting features of Samsung Marine B 2100 are:

Waterproof & Dust Resistant
- Complies with the IP57 (Ingress Protection) standard
- Submersible up to 1 metre for 30 minutes
Compliant with US Department of Defence with Military Standard 810F (MIL-STD-810F).
Rated to withstand blowing rain, dust, shock, salt, sand, fog, humidity, water, immersion, solar radiation, vibration, and extreme temperature.
Outdoor-friendly Features
- Extremely loud external speakers
- Noise cancellation feature optimized for noisy condition
- Incandescent embedded flashlight
- Temperature resistant – (-20 to +60 degree Celsius )
Network: GSM/GPRS
Weight : 102.8g
Dimension : 113 mm X 48.9 mm X 17.4 mm

Battery
- Talk Time : Up to 9.5hr
- Standby : Up to 670hr
Multimedia
- 1.3MP camera with video recording
- Music player with stereo Bluetooth support
- FM Radio

For more details, log on to Samsung Mobile India.

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Tata Communications to have Around the World Undersea Cable Network

OldSailor — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 16:13:52 +0000

Tata Communications has partnerships with a consortium of cable operators, including SEA-ME-WE 4, C2C, SAFE, EAC, APCN-2, Americas 2, CANTAT 3, 121 and others. The Company has alliances with BT, C&W, France Telecom, T-System, Telecom Italia, AT&T, Verizon Business, Sprint, SingTel, NTT, Telstra, KDDI, Telecom Malaysia and many more. Presently, Tata Communications has total lit capacity of over 2 terabyte and is the world’s largest carrier of voice traffic.

Subsidiaries of Tata Communications include:

Tyco: Acquired in 2005, the company was one of the largest owners of submarine cable bandwidth.
Teleglobe: Acquired in 2006, this global wholesale provider helped Tata Communications become the owner of a Tier-1 IP network.
Neotel: The second largest service provider in South Africa.

By year end, Tata Communications will be the first to have undersea cable network around the world in the form of a ring.

Here is a sketch from Tata Communications showing worldwide presence.

Read more from Tata Group – Tata Communications.

Post in MarineBuzz on this day a year before:

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Deep Siren Tactical Paging System for Submarines by Raytheon

OldSailor — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 18:19:53 +0000

The Deep Siren Tactical Paging (DSTP) system being developed by Raytheon, allows a command station to communicate with a submarine in real-time regardless of the submarine’s operating speed or depth.

Presently submarines have to come closer to the sea surface to communicate by using Electro Magnetic (EM) waves in ELF band (Extremely Low Frequency; 30 Hz – 300 Hz), in VLF band (Very low frequency; 3 kHz – 30 kHz), in HF band (High Frequency; 3 MHz – 30 MHz).

Some interesting features of DSTP are:

Comprises of
- a command station
- one or more EM to acoustic gateway expendable buoys
- an acoustic receive station on board the submarine
The vital Deep Siren acoustic gateway buoy
- can be launched
  - from a submarine through the trash disposal unit
  - from a maritime patrol aircraft through the sonobuoy launch tube
  - by a surface craft
- has worldwide connectivity with the command station through a commercial satellite data link.
- translates satellite communication messages into a reliable low data rate underwater acoustic signal that is received and decoded by the acoustic receiving station onboard the submarine.
Communication range is in excess of 150 nautical miles from the buoy.
November 2007: Raytheon was awarded a U.S. Navy contract valued at $5.2 million for development of DSTP system.
August 2008: U.S Navy successfully completed a series of tests of DSTP system at the Atlantic Underwater Test and Evaluation Center (AUTEC) deep water range in the Bahamas.
Further evaluation by the Royal Navy was conducted this year during TAURUS 09 deployment.
Raytheon leads the team by providing Mission Systems Integration along with partners
- RRK Technologies, Ltd (U.K) for Deep Siren long range acoustic transmit and receive algorithms
- Ultra Electronics Maritime Systems (Canada) for building the expendable buoy and launch vehicle
Raytheon is further working on airborne certification of Deep Siren, which will allow the system’s buoys to be deployed by aircraft.

Inmarsat: FleetBroadband 150 Takes Only 15 Minutes to Install

OldSailor — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 11:39:50 +0000

Inmarsat’s FleetBroadband 150 (FB 150) took only 15 minutes to install in tug Miclyn Enterprise on July 10. The installation was done by Thrane & Thrane’s Certified Partner, Jason Electronics, at the Jalan Brigjen Katamso shipyard in Batam, Indonesia. Miclyn Enterprise is the first vessel to switch on to high-speed connectivity using Inmarsat’s new FleetBroadband 150 service. The first email from the vessel was sent and telephone call made within an hour of installation.

FB 150 is highly suitable for smaller vessels that handle lesser data rate. Inmarsat has already FB 250 and FB 500 for larger merchant ships to handle higher data rate.

Some interesting features of new entry-level FB 150 are:

Combination of a high-quality telephone connection with simultaneous IP data at up to 150 kbps and SMS texting.
Affordable and reliable global communications system using the advanced Inmarsat-4 satellites, with assured service up to 2020s.
Provides better connectivity with improved efficiency by ensuring smooth, uninterrupted operations at sea.
Ideal for small to medium-sized merchant vessels, leisure crafts, fishing vessels, government vessels requiring single-user internet access and email.
Now even smaller vessels can easily be in touch with their shore units, access real time data like weather reports, weather updates and charts.
Compact and can be easily installed by one experienced person in installing marine equipment without any heavy machinery or tools.
Sailor 150 FleetBroadband: Above Deck Unit weighs 3.9 kg; Below Deck Unit weighs 2.0 kg

Here is the sketch of Sailor 150 FleetBroadband.

View a video clip from Inmarsat Global: Inmarsat FleetBroadband Case Study – Albatun Dos

NEPTUNE Canada: World’s Largest Cabled Ocean Observatory

OldSailor — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 21:14:17 +0000

NEPTUNE Canada, the world’s largest cabled ocean observatory is nearing completion and is expected to be operational by September. This regional seafloor observatory is a project of Ocean Networks Canada (ONC), a not-for-profit society created by the University of Victoria. ONC aims to build and sustain Canada’s world leadership in ocean science and technology.
Some interesting features of NEPTUNE Canada are:

Acronym for: North East Pacific Time-Series Undersea Network Experiments.
The underwater seafloor observatory is coming up, off the west coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia.
This regional-scale underwater ocean observatory provides an opportunity to surf the seafloor through internet.
Ocean scientists across the world, will be able to run offshore and deep-sea experiments and receive real-time data without leaving their laboratories and universities.
The network, which extends across the Juan de Fuca plate, will gather live data from the seafloor instruments deployed in a broad spectrum of undersea environments.
Data will be transmitted via high-speed fibre optic communications from the seafloor to an innovative data archival system at the University of Victoria.
This system will provide free Internet access to an immense wealth of data, both live and archived throughout the life of the observatory.
To remain operational for a minimum period of 25 years.
Applications:
- useful for broad studies on seismic and tsunami activity, ocean-climate interactions and their effects on fisheries, gas hydrate deposits, and seafloor ecology.
- will also promote new developments in marine underwater technology: fibre-optic communications, power systems design, data management, and sensors and robotics.
The University of Victoria, signed a contract with Alcatel to design, manufacture and install the infrastructure for NEPTUNE Canada’s cabled ocean observatory in October 2005.
Cost: more than $100 million.

The system components:

University of Victoria: a 10 gigabit per second line connects the Port Alberni shore station to NEPTUNE Canada’s processing and Data Management and Archive System (DMAS) facilities at the University of Victoria.
Shore station:
- Port Alberni is the shore station where power and communications connections are made between the land sea portions of the network.
- Shore station supplies 10,000 volts at 8 amperes to the network.
Backbone cable:
- 800 km long backbone cable laying as a loop was completed in November 2007.
- Carries both power and fibre optic communications bi-directionally across the network.
- Backbone is designed to carry 100 kw of DC power.Different grades of armoured submarine cable are laid in the seafloor depending on the seafloor conditions.
Repeaters:
- Also known as optical amplifiers.
- They are installed at a distance of approximately 60 km in the network, to boost the optical signal to prevent data loss.
Branching units:
- Have integral optical amplifiers to distribute power and communications from the backbone to spur cables connecting to network nodes.
- Ensure bi-directional communication in the network, even if the optical fibre cable is damaged somewhere in the backbone loop.
Nodes:
- Each node communicates through the optical network using its own dedicated wavelength of light.
- Also convert power from an incoming 10 kv to 400 volts for supply to as many as 6 junction boxes.
- Nodes are protected by Trawl Resistant Frames (TRF), from trawl damage.
- TRFs have access doors for ROPOS (Remotely Operated Platform for Ocean Science) to connect the nodes to junction boxes via extension cables underwater.
- Each node as a whole unit weighs about 13 tonnes.
Junction boxes:
- Provide power (15 volts, 24 volts or 48 volts) and communications to instruments.
- Up to 10 science interfaces can be connected to each junction box.
- Can be cascaded.
Instruments:
- About 400 instruments at a depth of 2.6 km are being positioned in seafloor: from simple temperature probes to complex multi instrument vertical profiling systems and remotely operated vehicles equipped with lights,camera,probes and chemical analysis units.
- Instruments are specially designed to withstand intense pressure and the cold, corrosive salt-water environment of the North Pacific.

View some video clips:

Introduction to VENUS and NEPTUNE Canada projects
from ABC News: Sea Exploration Hits New Frontier

About NEPTUNE Canada:

read more from University of Victoria, World’s largest ocean observatory nears completion.
view photographs from University of Victoria.
from Ocean Networks Canada as pdf.

For more details, log on to NEPTUNE Canada.

Image credit: NEPTUNE Canada

Post in MarineBuzz on this day a year before:

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Hywind: World’s First Large Scale Floating Wind Turbine Installed

OldSailor — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 08:16:42 +0000

Hywind, the world’s first large scale floating wind turbine was installed last month by StatoilHydro and Siemens.The Hywind turbine is expected to generate electricity by this month and the operation, performance of the turbine will be tested for the next two years.

Most of the offshore wind turbines are installed by securing them firmly to the seabed, limiting the cost effective installation depth to 30-50 metres. Such offshore wind turbines are unsuitable for countries with little or no shallow water areas near the coast line, to tap offshore wind power.

In May 2008, StatoilHydro decided to build the floating wind turbine Hywind, with an investment of approximately 400 million NOK, by combining technologies from both the wind farming industry and the oil and gas sectors. This technology makes it possible to install offshore wind turbines at higher depths of 120 – 700 metres.

Some interesting features of the Hywind floating wind turbine are:

Wind turbine
- Capacity: SWT- 2.3 MW, built by Siemens
- Weight of turbine: 138 tonnes
- Turbine height: 65 metres
- Rotor diameter: 82.4 metres
Floatation element and offshore installation
- Built by Technip
- Consists of a steel floater filled with ballast
- Floatation element’s draught below sea surface: 100 metres
- Diameter of floatation element: 8.3 metres
Cable laying offshore by Nexans and onshore by Haugaland Kraft.
Total weight: 5300 tonnes.
Diameter at sea surface: 6 metres.
No. of anchor moorings: 3
Location: located approximately 12 km south east of Karmøy in Norway at a water depth of about 220 metres.
StatoilHydro and Siemens have jointly developed a special control system to control the movement of the floating structure, specially to dampen out part of the wave-induced motions of the floating system.

Here are some photographs (Credit-Siemens press picture)

The design

The installation

Read more from StatoilHydro, Siemens AG.

Post in MarineBuzz on this day a year before:

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Marine Applications of Indian Satellite RISAT

OldSailor — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 19:45:42 +0000

India launched Radar Imaging Satellite RISAT-2 on April 20. Most of the media reported RISAT-2 as a spy satellite, because the satellite’s clear imagery can also be used for military applications.Shocked by sea based attacks at Mumbai on November 26, 2008 India has accelerated the launch of RISAT-2 before the launch of RISAT-1 which focuses on agricultural application.

India launched its first operational Indian Remote Sensing (IRS) Satellite, IRS-1A on March 17, 1988. IRS satellites were designed to provide data in the visible and near infrared region of Electro Magnetic spectrum. Electro-optic imaging sensors working in this spectrum, can only collect data during day time and can not penetrate through clouds and fog to collect data.

To ensure non stop collection of remote sensing data, RISAT-2 was launched. RISAT uses Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) working in microwave bands. The atmosphere is very transparent to microwaves irrespective of day,night,cloud and fog conditions.

Some interesting features of RISAT-2 are:

A new class of remote sensing satellite.
An eye in the sky, all time, all weather, see all, surveillance satellite.
Launched by Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, PSLV – C 12.
Orbits at an altitude of 550 km with an inclination of 41 degree.
Weighs 300 kg.
Orbit period of 90 minutes.
The satellite has been built with the cooperation from Israel Aerospace Industries.
The satellite is reported to be a replica of Israeli TECSAR satellite launched by Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) in January this year.
The satellite will enhance ISRO’s capability for earth observation, especially during floods, cyclones, landslides and in disaster management in a more effective way.

RISAT has many applications in the field of agriculture,oceanography,forestry,geology and hydrology.

Marine applications of RISAT:

Monitoring oil spills in the sea: Oil spill images can be viewed clearly and the source of the spill also can be found out.
Ships at sea can be detected and tracked.
Natural seepage from oil deposits can also be observed to assess suitable locations for offshore drilling.
Marine scientists can study wind,current,eddies and internal waves through the radar backscatter from the ocean surface.
In shallow waters, imagery can be used to study the sea bottom topography. Altimeters using SAR can also be used for ocean floor mapping.
From the imagery, ocean waves and their direction of displacement can be found out for wave forecasting and for marine climatology.
In Arctic and Antarctic area, ice formation including ice type and ice concentration can be assessed for navigation in ice-infested waters.

View some interesting video clips:

Satellite launch photograph is from Press Information Bureau and RISAT-2 spacecraft images are from ISRO.

Read more from Defense Industry Daily, Hindustan Times.

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IXSEA Launches ROVINS, Combination of Gyro Compass and Inertial Navigation System

OldSailor — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 17:17:38 +0000

IXSEA launched ROVINS, a combined survey-grade gyro compass and full featured Inertial Navigation System (INS) on March 31 at Ocean Business 2009 in Southampton, U.K.

Some interesting features of ROVINS are:

Gyro + INS = ROVINS
Uses Fibre Optic Gyroscope (FOG) technology of their OCTANS gyro compass and PHINS (Photonic INS) ‘strap-down’ inertial technology.
Designed specifically for offshore survey and construction activities.
Suitable for depths up to 3000 metres.
Can provide accurate position, heading and attitude information for surface or subsea operations.
As there is no spinning element, it is robust and truly maintenance free.
It’s integral web based configuration software offers an instant interface via any web browser.
Applications
- ROV & Offshore Survey
- Multi-beam and Sonar Motion Reference
- Dredging
- Subsea Engineering

For more information, log on to IXSEA.

Weekend View: Sentry, the Deep Sea Robot

OldSailor — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 18:33:57 +0000

Deep-Sea Robot called Sentry is an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV).

Some interesting features of Sentry are:

Built by engineers at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI).
The robot is designed to dive as deep as 5,000 metres and can dive up to 20 hours.
The robot is powered by more than 1,000 lithium-ion batteries, similar to those used in laptop computers, to withstand extreme pressures underwater.
During the first cruise last year, the robot surveyed about 53 square kilometres of seafloor including high-resolution mapping of the seafloor.
The robot can be pre-programmed for operation.

Photograph by Dana Yoerger, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. He is an engineer and his shipboard colleagues playfully painted a grin on the vehicle. He is expected to join Sentry on at least three expeditions planned for 2009.

View an interesting video clip of ‘SENTRY from WHOI Deep Sea Robot’

For more details on Sentry, log on to WHOI, Oceanus.

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Good Maintenance Onboard Ships: Free E-Book by ClassNK

OldSailor — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 11:40:08 +0000

Nippon Kaiji Kyokai, known as ClassNK or NK, is a ship classification society of Japan. ClassNK is dedicated to ensure the safety of life and property at sea, and the prevention of pollution of the marine environment. This is possible only when ships are safe at sea and, ships can be safe only by carrying out good maintenance onboard. To keep the ships safe and seaworthy, ClassNK has published in February 2009, “Good Maintenance Onboard Ships: Maintenance Checklist for the Master”. This 74 page pdf document of 2.14 MB, is the revised edition of the first edition, brought out in June 1994.

Some of the interesting features of this e-book are:

“Advice to Masters”
Checklist I : For Routine Maintenance (in Seventeen Tables)
Checklist II: For Port State Control (PSC) Inspection (the most common deficiencies)
Checklist III: For Safety Management System
Checklist IV: For International Ship and Port Facility Security
Appendix: Photos of the most common deficiencies

Download and read this interesting e-book from ClassNK.

For more free publications, log on to e-Library of ClassNK.

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Marine Applications of Magenn Air Rotor System (MARS)

OldSailor — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 16:49:16 +0000

The Magenn Air Rotor System (MARS) is a new generation of cost effective wind turbine to produce electricity from wind power anywhere. Conventional wind turbines require wind speeds between 3 metres/sec and 28 metres/sec and are generally installed in coast line.

As MARS can operate between 1 metre/sec and in excess of 28 metres/sec, they can be installed anywhere. The only restriction is that MARS units may not operate in controlled airspace or within five miles of the boundary of any airport.

MARS has marine applications also to power up: island nations, offshore drilling stations, and barge mounted power stations.

Some of the interesting features of MARS are:

a product of Magenn Power Inc. and commercial applications of 10 kW to 25 kW MARS units are expected to be in 2009/10.
is a lighter-than-air tethered wind turbine that rotates about a horizontal axis in response to wind, generating electrical energy.
this electrical energy is transferred down the tether for consumption, or to a set of batteries or the power grid.
helium sustains the Magenn Air Rotor System, which ascends to an altitude as selected by the operator for the best winds.
its rotation also generates the “Magnus” effect. This aerodynamic phenomenon provides additional lift to stabilize the MARS unit at a controlled and restricted location, at preset altitude without downward drift on its tether.
is equipped with at least two deflate systems (Rapid Deflation Device) to bring the unit slowly and safely to the ground automatically if it escapes from its moorings.
if the MARS unit “cut down” system does not function properly, it will immediately notify the nearest ATC facility of the location, time of escape and the estimated flight path of the balloon.
is equipped with a radar reflective material that will present an echo to surface radar operating in the 200 MHz to 2700 MHz frequency range.
units that operate over 150 feet will have a lighting system including individual lights that are placed every 50 feet on its tether. The lights will flash once per second.

The Advantages of MARS over Conventional Wind Turbines are:

low cost electricity – under 15 cents per kWh.
bird and bat friendly.
lower noise.
wide range of wind speeds: from 1 meter/second.
higher altitudes – from 200 to 1,000 feet above ground level operations are possible without expensive towers or cranes to carry out maintenance.
fewer limits on placement location – coast line placement is not necessary.
ability to install closer to the power grid thus minimizing transmission line costs and transmission line loses.
efficiency of 40 to 50 percent: will deliver time-averaged output much closer to its rated capacity than the capacity factor typical with conventional designs.
being portable, are suitable for emergency deployment including disaster relief situations.
ideal for off grid applications or where power is not reliable.

Initial MARS target markets include:

developing nations and island nations where infrastructure is limited or non existent.
disaster management: rapid deployment (to include airdrop) in disaster areas to provide emergency power to medical equipment, water pumps, and relief efforts (ex. Katrina, Tsunami).
off grid for cottages and remote uses such as cell towers and exploration equipment.
military applications.

View here the Magenn Air Rotor System technical animation.

View an interesting video clip M.A.R.S: The Floating Balloon Wind Generator.

All images are from MARS and for more information on MARS, log on to Magenn Power Inc.

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Visby Class Stealth Corvettes to Join Royal Swedish Navy by End 2009

OldSailor — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 13:00:58 +0000

All navies are switching over to stealth technology to enhance their first strike capability in case of conflicts. The Royal Swedish Navy is getting ready to operate Visby class corvettes designed with stealth technology by the year end. The construction was started in 1996 by Swedish shipbuilder Kockums. Four corvettes are already with FMV (the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration) for fitment of weapon systems and sea trials.

Some of the interesting features of Visby class stealth corvettes:

detection range of 13 km in rough seas and 22 km in calm seas without jamming.
detection range of 8 km in rough seas and 11 km in calm seas in jammed environment.
constructed with composite (Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastic) non-magnetic hull that features large, flat surfaces and sharp edges to lower its radar cross section, hydro acoustic, magnetic, infra red, optical signatures.
use waterjets for propulsion
- to operate in shallow waters.
- to avoid detection by submarines.
- to achieve higher speeds.
multi mission capability
- mine clearance.
- antisubmarine warfare (ASW).
- surface combat.
- marine surveillance.
- protection of commercial shipping.
the ships are
- Visby (K31) was launched in June 2000 and was delivered to FMV in June 2002 for fitment of weapon systems.
- Helsingborg (K32) was launched in June 2003 and delivered in April 2006.
- Harnosand (K33) was launched in December 2004 and delivered in June 2006.
- Nykoping (K34) was launched in August 2005 and delivered in September 2006.
- Karlstad (K35) was launched in August 2006.
specifications
- length: 73 metres
- beam: 10.4 metres
- draft: 2.4 metres
- displacement: 600 tons
- crew: 43
- speed: more than 35 knots
designed to operate light weight helicopter.

Here are the advantages of Stealth Ships over Conventional Ships

Parameter	Conventional Ship	Stealth Ship
Structure	Steel/Aluminium	Composite
Power	Diesel/Gas turbines with funnel/stack	Diesel with underwater exhaust
Propulsion	Propellers & Rudders	Waterjets
Detection: Radar	100 percent	30 percent
Detection: Infrared	100 percent	30 percent
Detection: Acoustic	100 percent	30 percent
Detection: Magnetic	100 percent	50 percent
Detection: Electric	100 percent	70 percent
Detection: Visual	100 percent	70 percent
Vulnerability: Fire	100 percent	100 percent
Vulnerability: Ballistic	100 percent	100 percent
Vulnerability: Blast	100 percent	70 percent
Vulnerability: UNDEX (Underwater Explosion)	100 percent	50 percent

Here are some photographs of Visby class stealth Corvette from the shipbuilders Kockums AB, Sweden.

View some interesting video clips of Visby class stealth Corvette:

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Weekend View: Robot Turtle Finnegan

OldSailor — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 19:52:36 +0000

An MIT/WHOI graduate student, Stephen Licht has built an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) called Finnegan. Unlike conventional underwater vehicles that use propellers, Finnegan uses flapping foils to maneuver. The idea to develop this AUV with flapping foils has come from Myrtle, a 500-pound, at least 70 years old, green sea turtle at the New England Aquarium.

Here is the photograph of Finnegan, underwater robot turtle from WHOI.

For more details on Finnegan, log on to WHOI, MIT.

Here are interesting video clips of Finnegan, robot turtle: Clip1, Clip2

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Dubai Water Taxis: To be Powered by Rolls Royce Kamewa Waterjets

OldSailor — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 16:57:08 +0000

Rolls Royce waterjets are going to power the Dubai Water Taxis. The Dubai Water Taxi project was announced by the Road Transport Authority (RTA) in March this year, to improve transport infrastructure in the United Arab Emirates.

Some of the interesting features of this project are:

Started on May 15, 2008.
Project Cost: 30 Million DHS.
Water Taxi (Technical specification):
- Hull : Catamaran Low Wash.
- Length : 10.8 metres.
- Width : 4.1 metres.
- Speed : 35 knots.
- Engines : Water Jet.
- Number of passenger : 11 passengers.
- Number of boats : 10 boats for phase 1.
- Operation Zone : all water surfaces within Dubai.

Water Taxi (Seat Features):
- Seats equipped with features equivalent to business class in planes.
- Seat decline to the back with 45 degrees.
- Table in a small annex seat.
- Seats are foldable by 20% to create room for passengers with special needs including the entry and exit of the wheelchairs.
- All seats equipped with life jacket in the bottom of the seat belt as specified in International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS).
To be built by the Damen shipyard in the Netherlands.
To be powered by a pair of Kamewa FF310 waterjets built by Rolls-Royce at Kokkola in Finland.
The first of ten catamaran-based vessels, is scheduled to carry out sea trials in August 2009.
Deliveries are expected to be completed by early 2010.

Waterjet propulsion is preferred over propeller propulsion because

Produces less noise and vibration.
Ability to accelerate, reverse, stop and steer is excellent.
Higher efficiency.
Higher speed with lower fuel consumption.
No overloading of engine, lesser breakdowns and increased life cycle.

Waterjet Propulsion

Main components are: pump and nozzle.
Pump is generally driven by a shaft from a diesel engine or gas turbine, to draw water through a sloping intake duct under the vessel’s hull.
High pressure water from the pump is discharged through an aft-facing nozzle to move the vessel forward.
The pump nozzle discharges its jet of water into air, not below the water surface.

Fact sheet of Kamewa FF310 waterjet is here as pdf document.

For more information on waterjets, log on to Rolls Royce.

For more information on Dubai Water Taxis, log on to Road Transport Authority, Dubai.

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