Performance Computing News

As alternative fuel engines start pushing into commercial sectors, the U.S. Department of Defense has taken notice, rationalizing that eventually, as alternative fuel grow in popularity, the diesel availability could drop while prices rise.To that end, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and Fairbanks Morse Defense (FMD) entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to collaborate on the development and integration of alternative fuel technologies aimed at reducing the marine engine’s reliance on fossil fuels.

Maersk and Hong Lam Marine have conducted the world’s first ship-to-container ship methanol bunkering operation of a Maersk’s container vessel at the Raffles Reserved Anchorage in Singapore.This was also Singapore’s first methanol bunkering and it was conducted with the support of the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA), government agencies and research institutes.Maersk’s container vessel – the world’s first container vessel sailing on green methanol – was successfully refuelled with approximately 300 metric tonnes of bio-methanol via Hong Lam Marine’s Singapore-registered tanker…

Shipbuilder Austal Australia said it has engaged Perth-based high-performance computing as a service (HPCaaS) company DUG Technology group to provide burst compute and storage services to the Henderson, Western Australia shipyard.HPCaaS (HPC) provider DUG plans to build the world’s first climate-positive HPC data center in Geraldton, Western Australia; powered by renewables and featuring the company’s patented immersion cooling system that reduces power consumption by up to 51%…

French firm CGG, best known for its seismic data services for oil and gas exploration, has now launched a maritime pollution monitoring solution named SeaScope."Combining expertise in remote sensing science, Earth observation data, machine learning and high-performance computing, SeaScope provides critical sea surface slick intelligence for a range of industries to strengthen situational awareness of the interaction between offshore assets, coastal facilities, local vessel activity and the natural marine environment…

Environmental concerns are influencing a greater need for renewable and sustainable energy across the world with specialist technologies being at the forefront of new designs and solutions. As maritime industries begin to tackle the climate change issues, ports and shipping companies are looking for carbon-free alternatives by testing potential solutions for vessels. The requirement to make a move toward greener shipping is imminent. As companies start to concentrate their efforts in developing efficient solutions for improving performance and reducing emissions…

Emerson and Repsol announced they have established a strategic alliance to deliver advanced subsurface geophysical technologies to reduce the time to prospect and produce first oil.Emerson, a global engineering and technology company,  will work collaboratively with Spanish energy company Repsol to implement and deploy advanced subsurface imaging technologies, with core technologies developed by Repsol as part of Kaleidoscope, its 10-year innovation project."These advances will be used by a broad range of the geoscience community within Repsol and in all oil and gas companies that choose to license the technologies. The solution combines the latest in high-end visualization…

Singapore is set to get new technology to help in preventing ship collisions.The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) said it has engaged the services of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research's Institute of High Performance Computing (IHPC), Singapore Management University (SMU) and Fujitsu to develop new predictive technologies for maritime vessel traffic management. These predictive technologies will tap the power of artificial intelligence and big data analytics, to enhance navigational safety within the Port of Singapore. The initiative is in line with the Maritime Transformation Program unveiled during this year’s MPA budget…

Despite the low fuel prices, energy efficiency is a key differentiator for shipping companies competing for cargo. The Canada-based owner Seaspan has worked with DNV GL on a series of projects aimed at investigating possible efficiency gains through retrofits. “We are constantly trying to improve the performance of our fleet, in order to meet current market requirements. DNV GL’s dedicated service for retrofit projects, based on computational fluid dynamics (CFD), formal optimization and high-performance computing has made them a valued partner for us,” says Ian Robinson, Project Manager, Technology & Development at Seaspan. “In one of the most recent projects…

Brian Yoder has joined Moffatt & Nichol as Chief Software Architect at its Long Beach, Calif. office to help manage the software product development of FlexTerm, a simulation and emulation tool developed mainly for the container terminal planning, the terminal operating system testing, the logistic system modeling and optimization in ports and terminals. The software allows for better analysis of dynamic processes and visualization of operational processes through 3D animations.

The 14th International Conference on Computer and IT Applications in the Maritime Industries (COMPIT) will take place from 11th to 13th May 2015 in Ulrichshusen, Germany. First held in the year 2000, COMPIT has established itself as a key conference in information technology (IT) for the maritime industries, bringing together software developers and users. Most participants come from industry, reflecting the practical relevance of the event. DNV GL will be the main sponsor of the event which covers the lifecycle of ships, offshore structures and equipment, from design to operation. E-navigation (or sea traffic management) could be considered as the maritime equivalent of air traffic control systems.

Robert Allan Ltd. Naval Architects said it will soon multiply its Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) computing power by a factor of six with the purchase of a new dedicated High Performance Computing (HPC) cluster. “Needless to say, this represents a major advancement in our processing capability,” said Bart Stock dill who heads the CFD group at Robert Allan Ltd. Indeed, the last four years has seen CFD’s role within the company evolve from basic flow and resistance predictions to highly sophisticated propeller analysis, wake wash studies and predictions for tug escort performance.

Building on the fruitful past decade of U.K.-Singapore cooperation in scientific research and development, A*STAR’s Institute of High Performance Computing (IHPC) and the Southampton Marine and Maritime Institute (SMMI) officially launched a joint laboratory in Maritime and Offshore Engineering R&D today, to develop innovative technological solutions through modeling and simulation using high performance computing technology, aimed at solving technical issues faced by the maritime, energy and offshore sectors.

The 27th International “What if?” Workshop has brought data farming experts together at the National Defence University in Helsinki, Finland. Data farming is a way to conduct operational analysis through modeling and simulation, high performance computing to build scenarios, and then explore new options for decision makers. The methodology permits planners and decision makers to ask the “what if?” questions to determine the probabilities of various outcomes. The workshop is being attended by representatives from Germany, Sweden, Canada, Turkey, the U.S. and Finland.

A little more than two years after laying the foundation stone, Eni has opened its new Green Data Center in Ferrera Erbognone (Pavia). The building will host Eni’s central computer processing systems, both for information management and seismic simulation processing (High Performance Computing). “Let's give energy a new energy” is the philosophy which underlies Eni’s decision to make the project available to universities and research centers - an open model to ensure that Eni’s investment may be a prototype of excellence, innovative and sustainable.

The international marine industry faces unprecedented challenges today. Energy costs are rising, as are concerns about reduced pollutant emissions, water ballast treatment and other environmental impacts. A tight credit market and cash-strapped operators mean that engineers must deliver designs with a high degree of fidelity and reliability while reducing the development cycle. Extreme weather, hazardous cargoes and other challenging operating conditions present the need to continually innovate, implement new materials and deliver analyses confidently.

The intent is to establish a Joint Lab facility with A*STAR’s Institute for High Performance Computing (IHPC) to co-develop applications and solutions in the marine and offshore sectors. This arrangement will promote R&D activities in modelling and simulation, providing bespoke technical solutions for companies in these sectors. To encourage the development of technical expertise and young engineers, PhD students will be trained at the GTC during the program’s initial five-year period.

Alan C. McClure Expands Computational Fluid Dynamics Analysis Capabilities. Alan C. McClure Associates (ACMA) has announced that the company has recently expanded its Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) analysis capabilities with a 50% increase to computational power, expanding their High Performance Computing (HPC) cluster to 48 processor cores, backed by 92GB of memory. This expanded capacity allows the company to handle larger, more complex models. According to ACMA Vice President Darrel Harvey…

Innovative Electronics Company Debuts Line of Powerful Marine-Grade Computers with Space-Saving Design for Convenient and Flexible Installation. Kessler-Ellis Products (KEP) Marine, the manufacturer of industry-leading marine sunlight readable displays, and high-quality marine hardware and software products, announced today its new line of powerful marine-grade mini-rack computers, the Barracuda series. Built from the ground up to provide high performance computing in a small footprint, the Barracuda systems fit KEP Marine’s new proprietary space-saving 12-inch rack.

SKY Computers, Inc., has entered into a preferred supplier corporate purchase agreement with the Lockheed Martin Corp., extending to all business units of Lockheed Martin, through 2001, with options to continue through 2003. SKY anticipates the agreement will result in increasing revenues exceeding $20 million over the life of the agreement for its board-level products and high-performance computing system products. The agreement provides preferred pricing of SKY products, as well as streamlining and simplifying procurement for Lockheed Martin. SKY has developed a dedicated product and pricing website to provide instant information to Lockheed Martin engineering and procurement personnel.

The Louisiana Immersive Technologies Enterprise (LITE) and Global Industries partnered to share LITE visualization technology and high performance computing capabilities with oil and gas industry leaders at OTC in Houston. “Our hosts for OTC, Global Industries, gave us the opportunity to share our exciting visualization technologies with leaders in the oil and gas industry. Through onsite simulations we developed especially for the conference, our demonstration included an underwater…

Alan C. McClure Associates (ACMA), a naval architecture and engineering firm, announced that the company has recently expanded its analysis capabilities by acquiring a license for STAR CCM+, the flagship CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) package from CD Adapco. This new analysis capability will enable ACMA to determine the effect of viscous flows and non-linear waves on vessel hulls and in internal tanks. ACMA has also purchased a high-performance computing cluster, equivalent to 16 standard desktops to run the new program and accelerated its learning curve by investing heavily in training and running test simulations of past projects. Many of the analyses that ACMA can now perform with CFD were previously analyzed using models tested in a Tow Tank.

Mercury Computer Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRCY) , a provider of open, embedded, high-performance computing systems, software, and services for image, sensor, and signal processing applications, announced delivery of its network-enabled radar processing subsystems and comprehensive integration services to a leading international prime, for its next-generation maritime radar to be deployed on surface fleet vessels and aircraft carriers. Mercury's Services and Systems Integration (SSI) team integrated Mercury and third-party components to deliver standards-based subsystems using its VXS high-density processing modules and multicomputing software suite, combined with the Serial Front Panel Data Port sensor interface and the RapidIO switch.