Marine Electronics
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The environmental monitor and sensing market is one of the few markets that continue to grow. Research reports indicate that the market now hovers at around the $10 billion mark with a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) in the range of 5 percent.
Although the oceanic segment is not one of this market’s largest, it has one of the largest growth potentials, and that’s because, for the most part, the ocean and the data in it are unexplored.
Along with the growth in the oceanic environmental market, comes growth in the water network markets. Emerging throughout the world are waterway-specific local area networks. Water data networks can now be found on and under bays, lakes, rivers and seas, as well as in and above harbors and ports. And if that’s not enough, canals, creeks, ponds, reservoirs, springs, swamps and wetlands are all becoming potential hot spots.
For communicating with different local area networks, different water networks use different approaches. Some transfer data through satellite communication links, and others use buoy links, underwater cable links, land-based wire and cellular links. For others, it’s more practical to communicate through short distance Wi-Fi links and long distance data radios. And finally there are those that must communicate through wireless underwater links and autonomous mobile links, known as gliders.
Gliders, which are self-powered, unmanned water vehicles, are commonplace at most major marine research centers. But they are also commercially available through marine instrumentation companies.
And one of the major reasons is that they offer a lower-cost way to monitor more ocean and more water for less money. To operate one, you don’t even need to supply fuel. They obtain their power from the ocean, using the differences in ocean thermals to dive to depths of 1000 meters and then climb back up again. Even distance and inhospitable weather doesn’t stop gliders from doing their job. The latest ones can travel across the ocean non-stop or circle the Arctic without even getting cold.
And with their dives and latest computer technology, they bring back scores of data. Data that can be turned into gold, or data that can prevent a catastrophe. More immediate though, they are also filling in network communication holes at sea. Where expensive satellite communications was once the only way to go, these roving gliders offer a different solution. They not only can save data in their bow, but they can decide on when and where the best place would be to reliably transmit it. They can even deliver this data to you personally on your boat.
Today’s gliders are equipped with a variety of communications technologies. This includes satellite modems, long distance data radio, as well as underwater and over water short-range wireless transceivers.
Through their satellite connection and PC interface, anyone can control the gliders from anywhere in the world. As well, their exploration routes can be preprogrammed. In that mode, the gliders still can make their own decisions. Using weather, water current and turbulence data, they can quickly change course or radio in for manual override.
Because gliders have the ability to hook into different radio networks, they have an innate ability to keep communication costs down. And that should help companies like YSI Inc,(Yellow Springs, Ohio) which offers its own glider, and companies like fast growing Freeware, Inc. (Boulder, Colorado), which offers long distance data radios and remote networking communications services.
YSI’s autonomous underwater vehicle, or glider for short, is called the EcoMapper. The EcoMapper is basically a roving environmental monitoring and communication robot. And it’s a robot that can be retrofitted to house any one of the hundreds of other water instruments that the company offers.
However unlike the transatlantic gliders that the University of Washington (Applied Physics Laboratory, Seattle Washington) builds, the EcoMapper is designed for short trips; up to 14 hours duration at speeds that range up to 4 knots. It can also be programmed to surface and stop at waypoints to transmit and receive data. For this, it has a 2.4 GHz WiFi transceiver to which a WiFi antenna can be added for improved reception. The EcoMapper also has the ability to obtain GPS fixes. This lets it determine exactly where it is and gives it the uncanny ability to quickly find other preprogrammed locations.
One of the primary uses of the EcoMapper is for mapping water quality and water currents. As well, it is also designed for a wide variety of bathymetry applications.
It also has the capability to measure just about anything. It can be ordered with a wide variety of precision instruments and precision sensors. These include instruments and sensors for chlorophyll, conductivity, depth, resisitivity, salinity, pH and oxygen, rhodamine, and turbidity.
Finally to process and communicate all the data it collects, and control this water robot, the EcoMapper includes an Intel microprocessor with 80 gigabytes of memory.
The Ecomapper is also for the most part portable. It weighs in at a lean 45 pounds, with a height of 60 inches and a diameter of 5.8 inches.
Freewave Inc. (Boulder, CO) Iong-distance wireless technology and industrial network technology has enabled the company’s products not only to get on board the Oracle BMW’s racing boat, the winner of this year’s Americas Cup, but also rise quickly as one of Colorado’s fastest growing businesses.
For its efforts, Freewave was also named to Deloittes prestigious Technology Fast 50 Program for Colorado. To make number 26 on the list, the company came in with a five-year average growth rate of 112 percent and over $5 million in sales.
Besides the Oracle BMW’s race boat, the company’s data radios are the centerpiece of the wide area networks that are popping up in small and large lakes alike.
And one of the reasons is that Freewave’s wireless data radios have a high range. Many of their radios can transmit data over 70 miles with a power output of 2 watts. However, it’s not just the spread spectrum radios they sell. The company knows how to put together complete wireless networks that can transmit sensor and control information anywhere that you want it to go.
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