Firmware News

WTW has launched CyNav for Ports and Terminals, a cyber solution specifically designed to help address the escalating cyber risks faced by owners and operators in this strategically vital sector of the global maritime supply chain. The release of CyNav for Ports and Terminals is a direct response to growing calls from operators for a bespoke product that addresses the specific risks faced by their high-value asset class and closes the gaps found in the standard cyber policies of today’s insurance market.Due to the outsized role its practitioners play in supporting the global economy…

Hawboldt Industries installed an ABB winch drive with in-built active heave compensation (AHC) software at the heart of a new winch and offshore crane for the research vessel Kilo Moana, giving University of Hawai‘i Marine Center scientists a reliable means of deploying water sampling equipment at depths up to 5,000 meters in even the roughest sea conditions.Kilo Moana is a 60-meter Small Waterplane Area Twin Hull (SWATH) ship owned by the U.S. Navy and operated by the University of Hawai‘i Marine Center, built to conduct a variety of tests at sea.

Shom, the French national hydrographic and oceanographic office selected SBG Systems’ inertial navigation sytems to renew their whole fleet of INS. They chose Navsight Apogee INS for their speedboats and survey vessels for both shallow and deep-water real-time bathymetric surveys and Qinertia PPK software for post-processing tasks.Shom has 3 major objectives: national hydrography and cartography, defense support in hydro-oceanographic fields, and support in maritime geospatial products and services for public policies on the sea and the coast.

Telemar, the Marlink Group company, launched its BridgeLink solution.Telemar engineers will use the BridgeLink Smart Maintenance Application to provide pro-active support to reduce potential down-time and increase efficiency of Bridge Electronics hardware as well as associated software maintenance and repair.“BridgeLink will enhance our efficiency in servicing our customers’ needs in terms of bridge electronics maintenance,” said Giorgio Santantonio, General Manager, Telemar Italy.

Bosch Rexroth said its GoTo Focused Delivery Program has marked its 9th consecutive year of growth by offering a strong product portfolio of thousands of Rexroth products with best-in-class lead times.The program continues to offer high demand products across Rexroth’s broad range of technologies for fast delivery. Considering product-dependent maximum order quantities, customers benefit from short lead times and unrivaled simplicity. More than 99 percent of the products in the program ship in 10 days or fewer, with the same lead times in the U.S., Canada and Mexico.

Iridium Communications Inc. announced today that KDDI Corporation, Navarino and NSSLGlobal Ltd., are the newest Iridium Certus service providers for the maritime industry. Iridium Certus will offer a L-band satellite broadband connectivity solution.With higher speeds, state-of-the-art small form factor terminals and competitive pricing options, Iridium Certus will offer a complete communications platform for all mariners and can serve as a primary service or VSAT companion solution.

Iridium Communications Inc. announced that seven additional service providers have signed agreements to provide the Iridium Certus service for maritime applications. Globecomm, Network Innovations, Pivotel, MVS USA, IEC-Telecom, MetOcean and Samsan Enterprise Company now further broaden the base of Iridium’s distribution for its next-generation L-band broadband service. These seven companies will play a critical role in delivering what will be the fastest and most competitive L-band satellite broadband solution to the maritime industry, enabling a truly global “connected ship” environment. This announcement comes shortly after Iridium became the second-ever recognized service provider for the Global Maritime Distress Safety System (GMDSS)…

Glomex Marine Antennas USA has enhanced its Internet antenna with a professional model. Its weBBoat 4G PRO features commercial-grade construction and components, including an upgraded router and advanced software, and comes with a five-year warranty.The weBBoat 4G PRO receives 4G/3G and Wi-Fi signals up to 20 miles away, and amplifies and redistributes them throughout the vessel via a hotspot or Ethernet. Dual SIM card slots and 4G diversity wideband antennas combine with a high-performance 3G/4G router to provide simultaneous Internet access for up to 32 devices…

Heat transfer, separation and fluid handling technology specialist, Alfa Laval, has expanded its Test & Training Center in Aalborg, Denmark with a new gas testing facility. At the same time it continues developing new technologies in the areas of ballast water treatment, sulfur oxide emission control, touchscreen boiler control, fuel efficiency automation for inert-gas systems and methanol booster systems. Alfa Laval, a global provider of specialized products and engineering solutions based on the key technologies of heat transfer…

Like any other modern shipboard system, watermakers rely on electronics for continued trouble-free operation, monitoring and automated self-maintenance. FCI Watermakers said it has enhanced its V4 Controller, upgrading the controller's firmware. The improvement increases screen response speed and provides an enhanced graphics-based visualization, or HMI (human machine interface), the manufacturer said. Using the V4 Controller is simple with its intuitive menu. Accessed through a hi-res 7" or 4.3" HMI touch screen…

The Belgian dredging, environmental and engineering group DEME relies on the accuracy and reliability of the AsteRx family of precise GNSS positioning solutions from Septentrio. DEME is using Septentrio’s AsteRx GNSS receivers to obtain centimetre-level accuracy for all their dredging and marine construction operations worldwide. These receivers are specifically designed to operate in difficult conditions: from ice-covered Arctic ports to the tropical climates of Southeast Asia; whether dredging a few metres from the coast line to constructing wind turbines kilometres out at sea. DEME began using Septentrio’s solutions over 10 years ago.

Vesper Marine, a leading manufacturer of innovative marine safety products, announced today the release of its revolutionary smartAIS technology. and more enjoyable. Unlike other manufacturers’ solutions that simply send and receive AIS data, Vesper Marine’s smartAIS goes much further. An active system with smart alarm logic, it proactively alerts boaters of potentially hazardous situations. Putting users in control, smartAIS combines navigation sensor data, and GPS and AIS information, with intelligent alarm management that prioritizes alerts for the most urgent response. While traditional AIS transponders require additional equipment to trigger alarms…

Wireless products, services and solutions provider CalAmp said its enhanced LMU-4530 telematics devicehas been chosen to support Navico’s new cloud-enabled GoFree Connected Vessel program to monitor onboard engine, sensor and navigation data. CalAmp’s device management and maintenance software platform, PULS (Provisioning/Programming, Update and Logistical System), has also been customized to support Navico’s over-the-air device management and firmware updates for vessels in port or at sea.

To operate marine electronics and communication devices, power converters such as inverters, battery chargers and power supplies are often installed to convert available DC or AC to the appropriate power outputs required. Complicating matters, both the power source (DC in varying voltages from battery banks and AC from generators or shore power) and the outputs (voltage, frequency, etc.) can vary for each piece of equipment. So much so, that finding the ideal converter can be difficult and often requires a customized solution.

Turner Designs now offers a C6P Submersible Sensor package enabling up to six sensors in a corrosion resistant, highly durable, Delrin plastic housing able to withstand even the harshest of environments. Modeled after the popular C3, the C6P can be configured with 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6 optical sensors ranging from deep UV to IR. An antifouling copper plate and a mechanical wiper are available as options to minimize bio-fouling on and around the sensors. Each C6P comes with a factory installed temperature sensor; factory-installed depth sensors are available. A large internal data storage capacity, low power requirements, and a high capacity external submersible lithium ion battery allow for long-term deployments.

Rose Point Navigation Systems announces the launch of its new Commercial Radar Interface, delivering a solution for interfacing marine radars with Rose Point ECS. The design of the Commercial Radar Interface uses an all-digital interface for data transfer that ensures a high level of image fidelity with the radar's display. The Commercial Radar Interface was designed to combine the benefits of radar images with the navigation tools built into Rose Point ECS. It provides an overlay of the radar image on any chart…

Oxford Instruments has introduced a new tool for coating thickness measurement and materials analysis.This new model, the MAXXI 6, is based on X-ray fluorescence technology.It encompasses a high resolution silicon drift detector (SDD), measuring thinnest coatings down to thenanoscale and element composition at trace level to ensure high quality control for up to date industrial standards. The MAXXI 6 is made in Taunusstein, Germany and approved by the PTB (Physikalisch Technische Bundesanstalt) for the highest level of radiation safety. Coating thickness measurement based on X-ray fluorescence (XRF) is a widely accepted and industry-proven analytical technique, offering easy to use, fast and non-destructive analysis requiring little to no sample preparation.

Actisense has upgraded its Engine Monitoring Unit (EMU-1) with advanced new firmware. The device, which acts as a specialised Analogue to NMEA 2000 Interface, is designed to operate specifically with engines on water craft, and now offers greater flexibility by allowing monitoring of dual engines or multiple tanks – a feature requested by Actisense users. Phil Whitehurst, Managing Director of Active Research Limited said, “Often a vessel will have two engines with a small number of gauges.

Greater energy efficiency and safety increasingly determine the selection of electric drives, even at high levels of power. With its IndraDrive CL/ML, Bosch Rexroth now offers a scaled product range of strong drive solutions from 110 kW to 4 MW for applications in metal forming, plastics, test, printing, metallurgy, marine, offshore and other heavy industries. These drives open up numerous opportunities for users to improve energy efficiency, especially through power regeneration.

Trond K. Trond K. Johannessen, President & CEO, Hatteland Display, shares with MR his insights on the evolution and future direction of this Marine Electronics subsector, modern marine displays. Please tell us how you came to lead Hatteland Display. As so often in life, it was a coincidence that I got introduced to Hatteland Display in 2008 by a former colleague from McKinsey &Company that had contacts in the Board of Hatteland Display. One thing lead to another and in early 2009 I started as CEO and my former colleague as CFO.

Astrium Services released a new software version for its established XChange connectivity platform, which offers a range of new features to facilitate permanent remote access, allow smartphone usage on board and provide improved VoIP capabilities. XChange v2.3 was developed to meet specific customer demands and is available free of charge by a simple firmware update, through a local file or via the embedded over-the-air update feature. The inclusion of new VoIP technology in XChange enables bandwidth savings of over 50%, whilst at the same time offering high call quality and reliability. This makes regular use of VoIP a more attractive option to the crew…

The first of the Royal Navy's (RN’s) Type 45 destroyers, HMS Daring, has set sail on operational duty fitted with Thales UK's new fully digital radar electronic support measures (RESM) system. The platform, the first of the Daring class, has been fitted with new digital antennas supplied by Thales as part of the UAT MOD 2 update programme. In conjunction with the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD), Thales has developed the direct radio frequency sampling and wideband digital receiver technology necessary to achieve a true digital antenna.

Doha, Qatar – HMS Daring, the first of the Royal Navy's (RN’s) Type 45 destroyers, will be on display at the Doha International Maritime Defense Exhibition & Conference (DIMDEX) this month, showcasing her  new, fully digital, radar electronic support measures (RESM) system, supplied by Thales UK. Daring will join the extensive warship display at Doha as part of DIMDEX, which runs from March 26-28. The ship has recently set sail on operational duty, following the recent outfitting of the new digital antennas as part of the UK Ministry of Defense’s  UAT MOD 2 update program.