EvoLogics GmbH from Berlin, Germany, designs and manufactures underwater communication and positioning systems as well as smart robotic solutions. The company’s core technologies stem from bionic concepts that fuse state-of-the-art engineering with the best ideas found in nature.
Offshore oil and gas platforms are typically located in harsh environments. Think of the North Sea between the UK and Norway, the South China Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. Severe winter storms, typhoons, and hurricanes are commonplace. The offshore industry is well practiced at dealing with such extremes of nature but relies upon the provision of precise meteorological and oceanographic data to do so. Understanding the magnitude and complexities of ocean waves around offshore structures is crucial for the safe berthing of support vessels, landing of helicopters, for safe working of men and machines on deck, and for confirmation that operational platform response parameters are within design limits. Furthermore, these data are essential for the validation of numerical models used in the structural design of offshore platforms, informing the design and management of offshore structures now and into the future.
The newly launched HYPACK® SUB-BOTTOM is a sub-bottom profiling acquisition and processing software package designed for marine geophysical, engineering & geotechnical site surveys, dredging, mining applications. It’s a simple and easy-to-use solution for most sub-bottom profiling survey requirements. Basic sub-bottom profiling acquisition & processing has been available in HYPACK for the past few years, but during the first quarter of 2017 a considerable amount of effort has been put into improving the stability, memory allocation and features of the program. This article is highlights some of new features and functionality of HYPACK® SUB-BOTTOM.
As a manufacturer, we are always striving to create products that we believe to be what the end users desire. The technology around which our lives revolve these days has had a strong influence over what we expect from products in every area of life. For instance, I have my smartphone, tablet and laptop; I have high speed access to information and data via the internet. Hardware is easily charged, memory is plentiful and expandable, quality is good and costs are reasonable. So, these are the standards I expect from the equipment I am about to use when hydrographic surveying. Valeport has led the way in sound velocity technology for more than a decade and our latest addition to the portfolio, the SWiFT SVP, was designed from the outset with customer feedback front of mind and a practical understanding of what customers actually want from an instrument.
Significant interest in autonomous and unmanned vehicles has developed within the survey community during the last few years. Unmanned Surface Vehicles (USV’s) are being considered for tasks such as data gathering in waters considered too shallow for manned vehicles and in areas presenting hazardous operating conditions. Looking forward, the concept of operating a fleet of autonomous and unmanned surface vehicles, with or without manned vessels as part of the fleet, holds great promise to improve survey efficiency.
Today’s shallow water multibeam echosounder are capable of efficiently delivering bathymetry, backscatter and water column data types. To benefit from this technology, Hydrographers are having to adjust their data collection and data processing workflows to deliver detailed and accurate information in an effective manner to a wider variety of End Users.
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In 2011, oceanographer Glen Gawarkiewicz sat in the back row at a National Science Foundation (NSF) public hearing about the upcoming installation of a vast and long-term ocean monitoring system, called the Ocean Observatories Initiative Pioneer Array (Pioneer Array). The chosen location, right off the coastal waters of New England, meant the array could interfere with fishing and shipping, and there was concern that the science generated by the array could be used to force fisheries closures. The people whose livelihoods depend on this ocean region were at the hearing and they meant to be heard. “There was a very crowded room in the public library in New Bedford,” recalls Gawarkiewicz, “and there were some contentious moments.” He was sitting next to a woman he hadn’t yet met, and Gawarkiewicz remembers one of them said to the other, “There’s got to be a better way than this.”
ADCPs On Wave Gliders Hold Promise of a New Solution
Near real time data processing facilitates the success of pioneering autonomous survey operations in support of national charting surveys of the USA.
Whether it is an ASV, AUV, ROV or indeed a sea mammal such as a seal or dolphin, all instrumented vehicle types need various sensors to meet and maintain design criteria or operational demands. The challenge for us as manufacturers is to match those demands with sensor designs and packages that meet varying specifications of size, weight, material, depth, power constraints and budgets without making each requirement a “one off” (as there are of course additional cost and time implications associated with a ‘one off’).
Each Mission Specialist system contains exactly the components and configuration needed for its mission.
Unmanned vehicle technology, once considered a scientific experiment itself, is now a reliable tool for researchers to conduct scientific experiments and gain knowledge in ways that were previously unavailable. The outcome is often faster and more efficient data collection, saving operators both time and money. Confidence inand adoption of the technology in many markets including defense, security, aquaculture, offshore energy, hydrography, and oceanographic research, continue to increase as the technology matures.
A submerged dock lays off the Fort McHenry National Monument, in the Patapsco River, Baltimore MD—and a well-known marked hazard zone. The depth surrounding the object is navigable at depths greater than 30 feet. Just over the hazard, depths are only 5-8 feet, making it impossible for a traditional survey vessel to navigate. We chose this particular location to demonstrate how an ultra-high resolution multibeam sonar can be used in conjunction with a small autonomous surface vehicle (ASV) to obtain a more complete survey of a complex and challenging area.
Technology is moving fast with always the “more accurate, cheaper, smaller” dictate. Three years ago, SBG Systems has been able to integrate all those wishes into a single unit: the Ekinox Inertial Navigation System (INS). In 2015, SBG Systems took another step forward with the release of the Apogee, the most accurate inertial navigation system based on the robust and cost-effective MEMS technology. Without export restriction, the Apogee stands as a game changer on the hydrographic market. It provides an unmatched Performance-Price-Size ratio and sets up new standard in the industry. Let’s see how MEMS-based inertial sensors can be used in some of the latest technical solutions dedicated to hydrographic surveyors.