All units will be capable of performing ship hull inspections and can be outfitted with depressor wings for deepwater operations or pole-mounted on a vessel for shallow-water port and river work. 

Two of the 4125 systems are configured with EdgeTech’s ultrahigh-resolution frequency pair 600/1,600 kilohertz, for deployment in rivers, channels and harbors. The third unit is configured with dual simultaneous 400/900-kilohertz frequencies for wide area searches in and around Lake Michigan. 

EdgeTech secured the bid working with Science Diving & Environmental Co. (Ann Arbor, Michigan).

Caption: EdgeTech's 4125 side scan sonar system.

Source: EdgeTech press release

Saab Seaeye ROV Gets Pipeline Survey Spread
A full pipeline survey spread has been fitted to a Saab Seaeye's (Fareham, England) Panther XT Plus ROV.

ROVOP Ltd. (Aberdeen, Scotland) ordered the first two Panther XT Plus ROVs with a pipeline survey package, after conducting trials with the system in May.

The survey spread installed on the Panther XT Plus includes a Teledyne TSS (Watford, England) pipe tracker; two Reson A/S (Slangerup, Denmark) SeaBat 7125 multibeam sonars with dual-frequency operation; a Sonardyne (Yateley, England) Lodestar inertial navigation system, a Doppler velocity log, camera booms and wheeled skid.

The pipeline survey system also has two four- and seven-function Schilling Robotics LLC's (Davis, California) Orion manipulators and a contact cathodic protection measurement system.

The Panther XT Plus comes with 10 thrusters, eight giving horizontal drive.

Saab Seaeye said it was able to incorporate the survey spread on the ROV by creating a vehicle design with more space for tooling, increasing the number of data interfaces (including a gigabit Ethernet multiplexer serial data interface) and power supplies, and improving the hydraulic system.

The main benefit for operators is savings in the cost of ownership due to a smaller and lighter vehicle that needs less deck space and fewer crew, Saab Seaeye said.

Caption: The Panther XT Plus ROV fitted with the pipeline survey spread.

Source: Saab Seaeye Ltd. press release

Exocetus Purchases All Assets of ANT's Littoral Glider
Exocetus (Anchorage, Alaska) purchased last Tuesday all the assets, intellectual property (two patents and one pending) and technology for the Littoral Glider from ANT LLC (Anchorage). The manufacturing of the gliders, now called Exocetus Coastal Gliders, will continue to be based in Anchorage, at the Exocetus facility. 

The glider was developed under funding from the U.S. Office of Naval Research over a six-year period, during which 15 gliders were delivered to the U.S. Navy, Exocetus said.

The ANT version of the glider is 6 feet long, with a diameter of 12.75 inches and a weight of 265 pounds. It can operate from 33 to 656 feet depth and has a horizontal velocity of 2 knots, with the ability to station keep in 2-knot current. The GPS is accurate to 300 feet. Mission duration ranges from 15 days on rechargeable power to 30 days on primary power. Communications include satellite, freewave and acoustic modem.

The initial primary market for the Coastal Gliders is coastal regions where hypoxia is prevalent during the warm months of the year. There are more than 200 regions of eutrophication and hypoxia throughout the world's coastal areas. 

Another near-term market for the glider will be research institutes studying ocean acidification.

Caption: The Exocetus Coastal Glider.

Source: Exocetus press release

Mitt Romney Criticizes President Obama's Navy Fleet
Presidential candidate Mitt Romney equated the
present size of the U.S. Navy fleet to 1916 levels during a speech at the Virginia Military Institute last Monday, adding that he plans to build 15 ships per year, including three submarines. He would also permanently deploy an aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf and the Eastern Mediterranean, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The Navy had 245 ships in 1916, but the ships included outdated vessels, e.g., monitors and gunboats, according to The Washington Post. The Navy now has larger ships, such as aircraft carriers, and nuclear-powered and missile submarines, which means Romney’s remark is "an apples-and-oranges comparison," the paper wrote.

Between 2003 and 2011, the number of ships fluctuated between a high of 297 and a low of 278. The low occurred in 2007 under George W. Bush. Under President Barack Obama, the number of ships has risen slightly, CNN reported.

Obama's Navy plan is to build 34 ships over the next four years, including seven submarines, as part of its goal to reach at least 300 ships by 2019.

Under the best-case scenario of Romney's proposal, the Navy would end up with about as many ships as it had in 2000, which is not much better than the 1916 fleet size, according to The Washington Post.

Caption: Presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

Source: The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal and CNN

RBRsolo T Temperature Logger Designed
For Tight Spaces, Long-Term Deployments
RBR Ltd. (Kanata, Canada) introduced last Friday its smallest temperature logger, the RBRsolo T. Its size is suitable for applications such as moorings, boreholes, profiling or towed arrays in oceanographic, freshwater, coastal or Arctic research.

The single-channel RBRsolo T is the next generation of the TR-1060 and can be deployed long term and in harsh environments. Deployments of more than five years are possible using a 3.6-volt lithium-thionyl chloride cell battery.

While similar in size to the TR-1060, the RBRsolo T uses a new architecture, resulting in less power consumption, more memory capacity and faster download speeds. The data-storage capacity provides memory for about 30 million samples, with data retention for 20 years.

In its standard calibration, the RBRsolo T has a measurement range of -5º C to 35º C. It can also be calibrated from -40º C to 50º C. The device is calibrated to an accuracy of ±0.002º C. The standard thermistor has a time constant of approximately 0.8 seconds.

The housing has a depth rating of 1,700 meters.

The new mechanical design enables easy desiccant placement to mitigate condensation or risk of damage during battery replacement or data download.

Q&A: Robert S. Winokur, US Navy Deputy Oceanographer
Robert S. Winokur is the deputy oceanographer of the U.S. Navy and deputy for the Oceanography, Space and Maritime Domain Awareness division in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations. He has more than 50 years of experience in marine science and satellite remote sensing, including undersea technology, ocean and satellite remote sensing systems, oceanographic ships, disaster information technology and national ocean policy.

He has served in senior executive positions in the public and private sectors, including acting oceanographer of the Navy, assistant administrator of NOAA, president of Earth Satellite Corp. and vice president of the Consortium for Oceanographic Research and Education.

Winokur has a bachelor's degree from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a master's degree from American University. His awards include Presidential Rank Awards, the Department of Commerce Gold Medal and the National Public Service Awards. He has also been a fellow at the Acoustical Society of America, Marine Technology Society and American Meteorological Society.

Sea Technology spoke with Winokur about his Compass award, sponsored by the magazine, and career highlights.

Congratulations on your Compass Distinguished Achievement Award. What does this mean to you as you look back on your career?
This award represents a capstone achievement at this point in my career. I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the recent passing of Adm. James Watkins, a former recipient of this award, who I had the pleasure of working for and with since he occupies a special place as a leader in the U.S. Navy and in our oceanography.

You're being honored partly because of your leadership of the team that formulated the policy initiatives that reinvigorated naval oceanography. Tell us a bit more about how naval oceanography progressed under your guidance.
I feel that I have been fortunate throughout my career to have worked with an outstanding group of civilians in the Navy and at NOOA, naval officers, NOAA Corps officers, and leaders in the Navy, the federal government and academia.

It is difficult to single out specific areas of progress, but areas of special interest to me include the recapitalization of the Navy's fleet of oceanographic survey and academic research ships; advancements in ocean models [for] forecasting; advancements in ocean acoustic models and support to the Navy's anti-submarine warfare capabilities; advancements in satellite remote sensing and our ability to monitor ocean conditions on global scale; ensuring the Navy is a part of and a contributor to the nation's ocean enterprise; and being able to contribute to the development and implementation of National Ocean Policy initiatives and programs. 

You've worked in both the private and public sectors. What's the most memorable thing you accomplished in each?
I have spent the vast majority of a long career working for the public sector. Both the public and private sectors provided me with opportunities to learn and contribute. The most memorable thing is to look back and to see how the fields of marine science and technology, satellite remote sensing, and numerical weather and ocean prediction have grown and changed, and to have been part of a field that has been important to national security and the protection of life and property.

As deputy oceanographer of the Navy, what are you working on now?
The Office of the Oceanographer of the Navy is focused on continuing to advance numerical forecasting to develop the next-generation environmental forecasting system for weather, the ocean and ice; expanding investments in and operational use of autonomous underwater and aerial vehicles; beginning to assess the makeup and capabilities of our next-generation oceanographic fleet; needs for continued advancement and continuity for the nation's weather and environmental satellites; the utility and impacts of ocean observing systems; impacts of climate change and a changing Arctic to the Navy; and the Navy's continued contribution to national activities in ocean policy and programs.