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Through Satellite Systems News

05 Jan 2023

Personal Locator Beacons Improve the Chance of Rescue at Sea

(File photo: Ocean Signal)

New Year’s Eve is a time of celebration and remembrance. Three years ago, on December 31, 2019, as the new year was being rung in across the lower 48 states, a tragedy was playing out in icy Alaskan waters. The fishing vessel Scandies Rose, with seven crew members aboard, encountered severe icing conditions and high winds and waves as it transited from Kodiak to fishing grounds in the Bering Sea. The crabber tried to make it to Sutwik Island to shelter from the storm; however…

16 Aug 2022

Moose Boats Delivers Vessel for California Department of Fish and Wildlife

(Photo: Moose Boats)

San Francisco Bay Area boatbuilder Moose Boats said it has recently delivered an M1 – 46 to the State of California’s Department of Fish and Wildlife. The vessel is to be named, Chinook and will be based out of Fort Bragg, Calif. to serve as an offshore patrol boat.Twin Volvo Penta D11-625hp turbo diesel propulsion engines, Twin Disc transmissions and Hamilton water-jets with Blue Arrow and Jet Anchor station-keeping controls power the 46-foot aluminum catamaran. Accommodations…

05 Jul 2022

Maritime Communications: Easier, Faster, Cheaper

(Photo: David Clark Company)

In November 2021, GTMaritime published a white paper: “Maritime Communications - A look over the horizon.” The report, available here, is built around three broad Sections – 1. “Basics of marine Communications;” 2. “The connected ship;” and 3. “Special services.”Then, each Section presents a closer look at various topics. The “Basics” section, for example, covers regulatory issues established by IMO treaties and national agencies. It presents the terms and concepts that define satellite systems and networks…

19 Aug 2020

Many Chinese Fishing Vessels Near Galapagos Cut Off AIS, Ecuador Says

(Photo: Ecuador's Navy)

Ecuador's armed forces said on Tuesday that dozens of vessels from a predominantly Chinese fishing fleet that is operating near the Galapagos Islands have turned off tracking systems to prevent monitoring of their activities.Of around 325 ships still fishing in the waters near the ecologically sensitive Galapagos, 149 have at some point in recent months cut off communications, Navy Commander, Rear Admiral Darwin Jarrin told reporters.Some had also changed the vessels' names to avoid supervision, he said."In this period, 149 ships have turned off their satellite systems ...

16 Apr 2020

Ocean Signal Introduces Compact Float-Free EPIRB

Photo: Ocean Signal

Ocean Signal has developed a compact Category 1 (auto-deploy) Emergency Position Indicating Rescue Beacon – the SafeSea EPIRB1 Pro.The new EPIRB1 Pro features a 30 percent reduction in size compared to other EPIRBs, a 10-year battery life and a retail price that makes it one of the most affordable EPIRBs on the market.Providing an essential link to emergency services for both recreational and commercial vessels, the Ocean Signal beacon complies with IMO regulations that require…

20 Nov 2019

Moose Boats Awarded New Vessel Contract

Photo: Moose Boats

Moose Boats, a boat designer and manufacturer in the San Francisco Bay Area, was awarded a contract from the State of California’s Department of Fish and Wildlife for the construction of an M1-46 catamaran to serve as an offshore Game Warden boat.Twin Volvo Penta D11-625hp turbo diesel propulsion engines, Twin Disc transmissions and Hamilton water-jets with Blue Arrow and Jet Anchor station-keeping controls will power the 46 foot aluminum catamaran. Accommodations are designed…

05 Oct 2018

INSIGHTS: Thomas S. Chance, Chief Executive Officer, ASV Global

Thomas Chance founded C & C Technologies in his home in 1992. Today C & C is a global oil field surveying and mapping company with more than 550 employees in ten offices worldwide. C & C was the first company in the world to offer autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) survey services to the oil industry and remains a world leader in the field. In April of 2015, he sold C & C Technologies to Oceaneering International. Complementing the autonomous underwater vehicle business, Mr. Chance started Autonomous Surface Vehicles, Ltd., or ASV, in 2010. ASV has 140 employees, four offices across the globe and has built more than 100 state-of-the-art unmanned boats for the defense and commercial sectors.

15 Sep 2018

USCG Navigation Center: Steering a steady course for safe, secure, efficient waterways

Coast Guard Cutter Cypress at sunset. Photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Lora Ratliff, U.S. Coast Guard District 8.

The U.S. Coast Guard’s Navigation Center (NAVCEN) is involved in a number of activities that have an impact on all Americans, even if they don’t realize it.From motorists checking directions with their Global Positioning System (GPS) to boaters to ships coming and going to U.S. ports, the NAVCEN plays an unseen but vital role.With a staff of19 officers, 17 enlisted personnel and 19 civilians, NAVCEN falls under the Director of Marine Transportation Systems (CG-5PW) at USCG Headquarters…

19 Jul 2018

Commercial Maritime's Great Migration to VSAT

Malcolm McMaster, President, Globecomm Maritime

Shipowners who want to get the value out of data, applications and smarter shipping have realized that VSAT is the new L-Band, says Malcolm McMasterAt Globecomm we spend as much time as possible talking to shipowners about their communications needs. It’s always a rewarding conversation because we hear about what they actually do with bandwidth, which gives us insight into what systems and solutions might suit them best.Over the last decade that would almost always mean L-Band satellite systems; but this is changing.

30 Jan 2018

Britain Reviewing Risks to its Satellite-Reliant Infrastructure

(File photo: DP World London Gateway)

Britain is reviewing its reliance on satellite-based technology for critical infrastructure including the Global Positioning System (GPS) as the threat of jamming attacks and disruptions grows, a government report said on Tuesday. Emergency services, transport, communications and financial networks are among key sectors which depend on Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) such as GPS. Such technology needs accurate and reliable position and timing signals. Experts say the problem with GNSS is their weak signals…

03 Jan 2018

Navigating the New Norm

Christopher J. Wiernicki (Photo: ABS)

It is not business as usual in the world where we do business. Things are changing. Even regulations themselves are changing from less prescriptive in nature to more performance-based. As Chairman, President and CEO of a global classification and technology-centric company that operates in 70 countries with 5,000 employees, I am continually assessing the impact of these changes on the capabilities ABS needs to fulfill its mission and maintain its leadership position in the maritime, offshore and government industries it serves. To know where we are heading, we have to know where we began.

07 Aug 2017

Cyber Threats Prompt Return of Radio for Ship Navigation

© donvictori0 / Adobe Stock

The risk of cyber attacks targeting ships' satellite navigation is pushing nations to delve back through history and develop back-up systems with roots in World War Two radio technology. Ships use GPS (Global Positioning System) and other similar devices that rely on sending and receiving satellite signals, which many experts say are vulnerable to jamming by hackers. About 90 percent of world trade is transported by sea and the stakes are high in increasingly crowded shipping lanes.

17 May 2017

Nigeria Invests in Boats to Fight Piracy

In 2014 the joint high-speed vessel USNS Spearhead (JHSV-1) maneuvers alongside the pier in Lagos, Nigeria. Spearhead took part in Obangame Express, a multinational at-sea exercise designed to improve cooperation among participating nations in order to increase counter-piracy capabilities. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Weston Jones/Released)

The Director General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) Dr. Dakuku Peterside has assured Nigerians and the international maritime community that the Federal Government is actively working to keep the menace of piracy and other illicit crimes in check on the nation’s territorial waterways. In this case the word are backed by action and investment, as the Nigerian government has approved the procurement of three helicopters and 12 fast intervention…

22 Feb 2016

Fleet Xpress a Success in Challenging Antarctic

Inmarsat together with Global Marine Networks and Network Innovations, today announced the successful trial and subsequent commercial order for Fleet Xpress in Antarctic waters. Fleet Xpress, installed on board the adventure cruise ship Ocean Nova, delivered robust communications in one of the most hostile environments on the planet. Fleet Xpress, the hybrid Ka and L-band service using Inmarsat’s Global Xpress network, delivers the world’s first globally available high-speed broadband service from a single network operator. The trial was successfully conducted on board the 1992 built ice class Ocean Nova, owned by Nova Cruising Ltd and operated by Nova Logistics, a polar expedition specialist.

09 Feb 2016

EU Pulls Plug on Back-Up Nav System

A British-led initiative to create a back-up to satellite navigation systems for ships has been pulled after failing to garner interest from other European countries, despite its proponents pointing to the growing risk of disasters at sea. Vessels increasingly rely on devices that employ satellite signals to find a location or keep exact time, including the Global Positioning System (GPS). Paper charts are used less frequently due to a loss of traditional skills among seafarers. Experts say GPS is vulnerable to signal loss from solar weather effects or radio and satellite interference or deliberate jamming, which South Korea experienced from North Korea in recent years.

19 Aug 2015

Inmarsat's 3rd GX Satellite Launch Confirmed

Inmarsat, the leading provider of global mobile satellite communications services, today confirmed that the third satellite in the transformational Global Xpress (GX) programme – Inmarsat-5 F3 (I-5 F3) – has been scheduled for launch at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 12.44pm (BST) on Friday 28th August. The third Global Xpress satellite to be launched, I-5 F3, will cover the Pacific Ocean Region and will, together with Inmarsat-5 F1 and Inmarsat-5 F2, create the world’s first globally available, high-speed mobile broadband service, delivered through a single provider. Inmarsat’s 5th generation satellites have all been built by Boeing Satellite Systems International Inc. in California.

17 Aug 2015

Inmarsat Schedules Global Xpress Satellite Launch

Photo: Inmarset

Inmarsat, a provider of global mobile satellite communications services, has confirmed that the third satellite in the transformational Global Xpress (GX) program – Inmarsat-5 F3 (I-5 F3) – has been scheduled for launch at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 12.44pm (BST) on Friday, August 28. The third Global Xpress satellite to be launched, I-5 F3, will cover the Pacific Ocean Region and will, together with Inmarsat-5 F1 and Inmarsat-5 F2, create the world’s first globally available, high-speed mobile broadband service, delivered through a single provider.

26 May 2015

Threats to Global Navigation Satellite Systems

Location and coverage of proposed Phase 1 South Korean eLoran transmitter					 (Inside GNSS News January 2015

Originally developed to guide Allied convoys safely across the Atlantic, the use of synchronized low frequency radio signals as a navigational aid revolutionized modern maritime navigation in the 1940s. Faced with operating ships and aircraft over vast areas, researchers pioneered the use of radio signals to aid navigation in regions where poor weather conditions made traditional methods—such as dead reckoning and celestial navigation—exceptionally difficult. This system was eventually named LORAN.

26 May 2015

Rising from the Ashes

Dennis Bryant

The federal government is now taking steps to reverse its 2010 decision to terminate the nation’s LORAN program. The LORAN program was initiated during World War II, when US and Allied forces fighting in the Pacific Theater needed a good means of navigation in that vast ocean. The US Coast Guard was charged with establishing and operating chains of Loran-A stations throughout the Pacific. With war’s end, the program was extended to coastal areas of the United States and elsewhere. Over time, Loran-A was replaced by Loran-C, which provided both greater coverage and improved accuracy.

02 Apr 2015

Ship Management and Technology

Image courtesy: Unicom Management Services (Cyprus) Ltd.

Technology is central, not merely an add-on, to ship manager brand value. Ship managers who operate vessels on behalf of their owner clients, are the lynchpin of international shipping. As the industry has gone through rounds of relentless cost cutting, at times of increasing regulatory scrutiny, and commercial pressures for high standards, third party managers have filled the need for raising quality, while maintaining tight cost controls. The rise of third party managers in the 1980s and 1990s…

26 Mar 2015

Affordable SATCOM for Workboat Applications

SATCOM edges closer to providing standardized services to the workboat sector. It’s affordable now and someday soon, you won’t be able to afford to be without it. Dartmouth, Nova Scotia-based JouBeh Technologies today makes it possible for far flung workboats to transmit critical data back to principals and at the same time, allow regulators and operators alike the possibility of reliable asset tracking on the water. Maybe it’s not YOUR workboat, but someday soon, it could be. As a reseller and integrator for Iridium Communications, JouBeh’s business mix penetrates many sectors. On the water, what they are doing for the federal government of Canada in two different applications has potential for North American commercial inland operators, as well.

18 Mar 2015

Fugro Introduces G2+ Positioning Service

Fugro has introduced its high accuracy G2+ service for the GNSS augmentation field, the company announced today. The G2+ service is designed to benefit offshore operators around the globe who require positioning and measurement accuracy at the centimeter level. G2+ is an enhancement of Fugro’s G2 service (based on GPS and GLONASS) and utilizes highly advanced GNSS augmentation algorithms developed in-house. The code and carrier-phase signals transmitted by GPS and GLONASS satellites are monitored globally by Fugro’s worldwide network of reference stations. These observations are processed centrally in real-time using the company’s proprietary algorithms to generate precise corrections which are used to augment the standard signals broadcast by GPS and GLONASS satellites.

17 Feb 2015

Fugro Launches G4 Service

Fugro has further extended its technology leadership in the field of GNSS augmentation systems for offshore positioning applications with the launch of its G4 service. The new satellite correction service is the first to take advantage of all four GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite Systems): GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou and Galileo. GNSS augmentation services significantly improve position accuracy compared to unaided GNSS receivers, which are commonly used in the consumer sector. By using all available GNSS satellites, Fugro’s G4 service is designed to improve availability and reliability of offshore positioning and will thus enhance the safety and productivity of a wide range of survey and other activities offshore.