Ais Beacon News

Vesper Marine designed its Virtual AIS Beacon in 2010 and installed the first solution in 2011. Developed to address the need to make hazards at sea visible when costly physical infrastructure is not appropriate or is impossible to deploy, the Virtual Aid to Navigation technology that Vesper Marine has created is based on the international standardized AIS, which all large ships must use and many yachts and smaller vessels are now choosing to install due to the safety and collision avoidance benefits it provides.

Going out on the sea is fun and is one of the most favored recreational pastimes. With a pleasant day in mind, only few people are willing to consider the risks and hazards linked to this activity. This explains why most aquatic accidents happen in calm weather, close to the shore, probably even in the view of other people. Therefore, it should be easy to be rescued within a reasonable lapse of time. A person going overboard will not yet have drifted too far off even in strong currents. However, this picture may have a flaw. In the U.S., there are 10 “unintentional drownings” a day.

Vesper Marine will provide its Virtual Aid to Navigation technology to the French company CGG, a  geoscience company that provides geological and geophysical survey and analysis primarily to the oil and gas industry. In its ongoing quest to map the ocean’s floors, CGG survey vessels tow an array of cables in the water at a up to a 50 ft. depth, an array of cables that contain seismic energy sources, usually a series of airguns that are fired at regular intervals as the vessel moves along predetermined survey lines.

Vesper Marine has been awarded the contract to provide Virtual Automatic Identification System (AIS) Beacons to mark seven reefs hazardous to shipping in the Bay of Plenty, as well as provide a coastal monitoring capability. The beacons will alert ships’ crews and the local government’s Regional Council that a vessel is heading towards a charted danger or entering the no-go zone around each hazard. The contract is in response to the October 5, 2011 events that resulted in the worst environmental disaster in New Zealand’s history…

McMurdo Group was launched today as a new global company in end-to-end search and rescue (SAR) and maritime domain awareness (MDA) solutions. Comprised of Orolia’s former Positioning, Tracking and Monitoring Division, McMurdo Group combines Boatracs, Kannad, McMurdo and Techno-Sciences, Inc. into the industry’s first, single-vendor provider of end-to-end lifesaving and tracking solutions including distress beacons, satellite connectivity infrastructure, monitoring/positioning software and emergency response management. “The formation of McMurdo Group is far more just than a corporate realignment. It is an opportunity to lead, simplify and educate a fragmented…

Boatracs Inc., a provider of integrated satellite communications and software solutions to the maritime industry, said it will conduct live booth demonstrations of two new maritime applications at the International Workboat Show in New Orleans on October 9-11, 2013. Boatracs BTConnect AIS (Automatic Identification System) extends the functionality of BTConnect by integrating real time messaging and vessel tracking with AIS data on a single display. The AIS Man Overboard (MOB) Alarm Notification System…

Vesper Marine announce successful completion of the demonstration of its Virtual AIS Beacon Technology to a who’s who of California-based professional and port authority organizations. A proven technology currently being used in applications around the globe, the Vesper Virtual AIS Beacon delivers a proactive electronic marker of dangerous visible and invisible hazards such as bridges, piers, rock outcrops, and reefs, as well as any underwater fixed or moving hazards such as sandbars, to provide location information and alert warnings.

McMurdo, a business of the Orolia Group, announced that Smartfind M5 AIS Class A Transponder is now available. The Smartfind M5 Automatic Identification System (AIS) Class A Transponder, previewed at Marine Equipment Trade Show (METS) 2012 in Amsterdam, is part of McMurdo’s new range of AIS products that reflect its excellence in innovation and advancement in marine technology. The Smartfind M5 AIS Class A Transponder gives mariners the ability to view at a glance the AIS status of vessels all around them and provides access to a host of detailed navigation information.

When manually activated, the Smartfind S10 uses AIS and GPS technology to give precise location information to aid the recovery of people in difficulty at sea. Waterproof to 60 meters, buoyant and compact, this unique device can make all the difference in a localized search situation. The chances of being rescued are greatly increased thanks to its ability to transmit both AIS and GPS data to the vessel the individual has come from and to other AIS equipped vessels within a four mile radius.