Hydrography and Hydrographic Survey

Beidou Satnav System Operational

2011-12-28T11:02:00.002+01:00

Chinese officials have on 27th December 2011 confirmed that the country's Beidou satellite navigation system is operational, albeit mainly in China, with the goal to offer free, global coverage in place by 2020. At a press conference the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation said that Beidou is providing location data and SMS messaging using a network of ten satellites currently in

first navigation signal transmitted to Earth

2011-12-14T13:28:00.002+01:00

Europe’s Galileo system has passed its latest milestone, transmitting its very first test navigation signal back to Earth. The first two Galileo satellites were launched into orbit on 21 October. Since then their systems have been activated and the satellites placed into their final orbits, positioned so that their navigation antennas are aligned with the world they are designed to serve. Last

Optech Bathymetric Lidar Awarded

2011-12-02T12:35:00.001+01:00

Optech has been awarded the MAPPS 2011 Geospatial Excellence Award for Technology Innovation. The award was given to the ALTM Aquarius, a compact solution for mapping coastal and inland waterways. Compatible with the ALTM Gemini system, Aquarius collects simultaneous land and water-depth measurements, enabling wholly complete data sets that span the land/water interface. Designed as a

High-resolution Side-scan Processing

2011-11-11T07:37:00.001+01:00

Chesapeake Technology has presented a high-resolution capability for SonarWiz 5 that doubles the resolution of the earlier version. The result for side-scan sonar data is crisper, sharper mosaics, waterfalls and sonar contact images. Christian Mueller, Humminbird’s SAR side-scan operator, said that on a recent search he was able to narrow down almost 70 targets in the survey area to just five,

Galileo satellites handed over to control centre in Germany

2011-11-05T11:40:00.002+01:00

Europe’s first two Galileo satellites have reached their final operating orbits, opening the way for activating and testing their navigation payloads. Marking the formal end of their LEOP Launch and Early Operations Phase, control of the satellites was passed yesterday from the CNES French space agency centre in Toulouse to the Galileo Control Centre in Oberpfaffenhofen in Germany.

Dual Head Echo Sounder Installation

2011-11-01T07:27:00.002+01:00

MMT Group has purchased and installed a Kongsberg EM2040D dual head multi-beam echo sounder on its survey and ROV vessel IceBeam. By operating an EM 2040 dual head, MMT is further prepared to perform surveys that meet the IHO-S44 special order. According to Kongsberg, this is the first multi-beam echo sounder to combine all of the advanced features of deepwater echo sounders to the near-bottom

Fugro Awarded Mareano Survey Contract

2011-10-31T15:52:00.002+01:00

Fugro OSAE, Germany, has been awarded an EUR2.3 million hydrographic survey contract by the Norwegian Hydrographic Service (NHS). The survey is part of the MAREANO project and will encompass an area over 12,000km² in the Barents Sea. The area is located 200km offshore in the northern-most part of Norway, near the Russian border, in water depth down to 300 metres. As the North Atlantic current

Hydrographic Airborne Laser Scanner

2011-10-26T08:10:00.000+02:00

RIEGL introduced the VQ-820-G Hydrographic Airborne Laser Scanner in September 2011. This device is especially designed for combined land and hydrographic airborne surveying. The high-accuracy ranging is based on echo digitisation and online waveform processing with multiple target capability. Laser range measurements for high-resolution surveying of underwater topography, the bottom of

Soyuz - Galileo IOV-1 launch set for Friday, 21 October, 2011

2011-10-21T07:22:00.002+02:00

Following the work performed on the Soyuz launch facility and the associated additional checks, Arianespace has decided to restart the countdown operations for the launch of VS01, Soyuz ST-B – Galileo IOV-1. Liftoff of the Soyuz ST-B launcher is now set for Friday, 21 October, at exactly 12:30:26 pm CEST (10:30:26 GMT).

5cm C-Nav GNSS Service

2011-10-11T20:10:00.002+02:00

C-Nav, USA, has launched its improved five-centimetre C-NavC2 GNSS subscription service. C-NavC2 supports GPS + GLONASS corrections and delivers the real-time Precise Point Positioning solutions around the world. The service utilises proprietary algorithms combined with high-precision measurements from a global tracking network of multi-frequency, multi-constellation geodetic-quality C-Nav3050

Galileo satellites await launch side-by-side

2011-10-10T07:53:00.002+02:00

The twin Galileo satellites have been attached to the supporting dispenser that will hold them in place during their 20 October launch atop the first Soyuz from French Guiana.The first Galileo In-Orbit Validation satellite – known as ‘PFM’ – was attached to one side of the dispenser on Tuesday 4 October, with the second flight model, ‘FM2’, joining it on the other side the following day. The

Galileo IOV satellites fuelled for launch

2011-10-06T07:35:00.002+02:00

ESA’s first two Galileo navigation satellites are both now fuelled and checked for their launch by Soyuz from French Guiana on 20 October.The two Galileo In-Orbit Validation satellites reached Europe’s Spaceport last month. Galileo’s second flight model, FM2, touched down on 7 September on an Antonov-124 and the Galileo Protoflight Model followed it seven days later on an Ilyushin 76. Both

New Satellite Brings GLONASS' Accuracy to 5m

2011-10-05T19:21:00.001+02:00

Russia's GLONASS satellite navigation system has been upgraded to a precision of up to 5 meters after the successful launch of the 24th GLONASS satellite on 3rd October 2011. The GLONASS-M blasted off the Plesetsk spaceport at 00.15 Moscow time carried by the Soyuz spacecraft with the assistance of the Frigate upper-stage rocket. The launch marked a turning point bringing the number of GLONASS

Full Ocean Depth Multi-beam Imaging Sonar

2011-10-04T05:38:00.001+02:00

BlueView Technologies has been commissioned to develop the first full ocean depth (11,000 metres), multibeam imaging sonar systems for historic exploration projects by Virgin Oceanic and film director & National Geographic Explorer in Residence James Cameron. The new imaging sonar systems will be integrated onto revolutionary manned and unmanned submersibles destined for the deepest locations on

New Tide Prediction Website

2011-10-03T07:45:00.002+02:00

There is now a new tide prediction website. It proposes an interface to the TPXO global tide model.From the website you will be able retrieve prediction data for any offshore coordinates.The website is at its early development and suggestions for new features and improvements are welcome.Future additions will be Current vector prediction and prediction from local models.Take a visit at

Multibeam echo sounder & attitude heading sensor

2011-09-30T09:01:00.000+02:00

Veripos Opens Office in China

2011-09-29T12:04:00.002+02:00

Veripos has extended its operations in China with the opening of an office in Tianjin in association with Tianjin YaXi Offshore Oilfield Technical Services Co Ltd. The office will oversee the continuing development of Veripos's range of globalised high-precision positioning services for the Chinese offshore market covering Dynamic Positioning, DP drilling, seismic exploration, survey and

Kongsberg Maritime opens doors to new Greek office

2011-09-26T11:10:00.002+02:00

A new Kongsberg Maritime office in the port of Piraeus, Greece went operational on September 1st 2011. Kongsberg Maritime Hellas SA, has been established as a customer support & sales office to meet the procurement and service requirements of Greek shipowners and vessels sailing with Kongsberg Maritime systems in southern Europe. With a large base of ferry operators and merchant vessel owners (

Nortek Releases New Glider ADCP at Oceans Conference

2011-09-23T10:36:00.002+02:00

Nortek has collaborated with iRobot Corp. to develop a modified compact acoustic Doppler current profiler for the iRobot 1KA Seaglider Unmanned Underwater Vehicle Nortek ADCP integrated on iRobot Seaglider The development, which took place over the course of the past year, has resulted in the testing of a small, light weight and low-power consuming current profiler with the Seaglider

Alaska to be Resurveyed

2011-09-22T23:22:00.000+02:00

NOAA Ship Rainier has begun a month-long survey of the seafloor near Alaska's Prince of Wales Island as part of a multi-year effort to update nautical charts for the area. In addition to supporting marine navigation, data acquired by the 231-foot hydrographic survey vessel will also support marine ecosystem studies and improve inundation models for areas vulnerable to tsunamis. NOAA's

Multibeam Sonar to Detect and Map Deep-sea Gaseous Seeps

2011-09-22T21:43:00.002+02:00

Multibeam sonar, an echo sounding technology commonly used to map the seafloor, can also be used to map and detect gaseous seeps in the water column, according to scientists testing the technology onboard NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer last week in the Gulf of Mexico. Unlike other types of sonar, multibeam technology is able to survey a wide area of the seafloor and water column. The ship's

Seismic Streamers Displayed Over AIS

2011-09-21T10:01:00.000+02:00

Kongsberg Seatex has developed a solution to display the size and shape of seismic streamers over standard AIS. With this information available to all vessels in the survey area, this development has the potential to enhance safety and streamline operations. Seismic operations in areas of high shipping activity can be a challenge as a seismic survey vessel has restricted manoeuvrability due to

Countdown to Europe’s first Soyuz launch under way

2011-09-21T07:36:00.002+02:00

The clock is ticking for the first Soyuz flight from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana. The rocket, which will carry the first two satellites of Europe’s Galileo navigation system into orbit, is being prepared for launch on 20 October.Final assembly began on 12 September of the three-stage Soyuz ST-B, consisting of four first-stage boosters clustered around the core second stage, topped off by

Operation Gooseberry Surveyed and Mapped

2011-09-12T08:01:00.003+02:00

The entire QPS/IVS 3D suite of software products will be used during Operation Gooseberry (the survey of the British and Canadian D-Day beaches). QPS QINSy hydrographic software will be used for the collection of the survey data from the multibeam system and the magnetometer. Geo-spatial data processing will then be performed by IVS 3D Fledermaus software on the bathymetry data. Fledermaus will

First Galileo satellite touches down in French Guiana

2011-09-10T10:52:00.000+02:00

The first Galileo navigation satellite has arrived in Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, ready to begin preparations for launch on 20 October.Packed within its protective, air-conditioned container, the satellite landed at Cayenne Rochambeau Airport aboard an Antonov aircraft at 06:45 local time on Wednesday 7 September, having departed from Thales Alenia Space Italy’s Rome facility, where it