Liquid Robotics to Partner with Norway's Maritime Robotics
7 September 2016 - Liquid Robotics®, the leader in long-duration, unmanned ocean robots, today announced a new business and technology partnership with Maritime Robotics, Norway’s leading system integrator of autonomous maritime systems.
Joining Liquid Robotics’ Open Oceans Partner Program, Maritime Robotics is now an authorized partner to sell Liquid Robotics’ Wave Gliders and associated mission and integration services to customers throughout the Nordic countries of Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, and Iceland. The Maritime Robotics partnership brings valuable expertise in creating and delivering high value, sustainable maritime solutions for today’s applications of maritime security, fish tracking & monitoring and meteorology and oceanography. Additionally, this partnership will address the emerging commercial applications of wind farming, aquaculture, and commercial flight tracking.
One of the first customers from this partnership is Flightradar24, the world’s leading flight tracking service. They are currently undergoing sea trials to test ocean-based ADS-B reception with Wave Gliders. Wave Gliders have the potential to fill the current air traffic communications tracking gaps that exist over remote ocean expanses. To learn more about FlightRadar24’s efforts see their blog.
“The Nordic countries are innovating at a rapid pace and generating increasing industry demand for autonomous maritime systems,” said Daniel J. Middleton, Executive Vice President of Global Sales and Business Development, Liquid Robotics. “To address this growing market, we are excited to partner with Maritime Robotics to deploy advanced autonomous systems that improve our clients business and provide greater maritime security for their country.”
This partnership combines the companies’ unmanned systems technology expertise, partnerships and solid track records for safely conducting ocean missions in the harsh Nordic seas. Together with the Wave Glider’s over 1.1M nautical miles at sea and environmentally safe operation, the two Companies will work to create sustainable solutions for the Nordic countries’ commercial and maritime security customers.
“With a decade of working with Unmanned Surface Vehicle (USV) systems and application development, we are now seeing the USV market moving away from the technology push phase over to a more mature business, where users and USV industry join forces to create new opportunities,” said Vegard Evjen Hovstein, CEO of Maritime Robotics. “We see many possibilities for the use of the Wave Glider in our Nordic region, and are thrilled to join forces with the team behind the best energy harvesting USV in the world, the Wave Glider.”
Liquid Robotics Signs R&D Agreement with NOAA
24 April 2014 - Liquid Robotics and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) today announced the signing of a multi-year, Cooperative Research & Development Agreement (CRADA) designed to advance ocean observations to improve U.S. weather forecasting, fisheries management and environmental monitoring. The NOAA/Liquid Robotics CRADA combines the significant product capabilities of the Wave Glider, a revolutionary, wave powered unmanned ocean robot, with NOAA’s engineering, data analysis and modeling expertise for applications that will have long-term benefits to the general public.
"Over several years, we’ve worked closely with Liquid Robotics on multiple applications with their innovative technology, the Wave Glider. We've used the Wave Glider to demonstrate advances in hurricane forecasting, measure CO2 levels, monitor the Arctic marine environment, detect tsunamis and collect fisheries data,” said Craig McLean, NOAA’s deputy assistant administrator of the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research. “I am pleased to establish this agreement to strengthen our important partnership and to improve environmental observations.”
The NOAA/Liquid Robotics CRADA will focus research on three primary areas:
• Expand and enhance integrated sensor capabilities that will augment information needs, fill data gaps and lower data acquisition costs.
• Improve unmanned platform operational capabilities or geographic scope of coverage to collect data in areas or in conditions too difficult or risky for manned observations.
• Utilize sensor data collected from unmanned platforms to augment or replace existing data collection technologies (i.e. moored buoys, satellites, research vessels).
More specifically, the CRADA will involve collaboration for:
• Improvement of hurricane intensity forecasting models
• Arctic meteorological and oceanic exploration
• Coastal mapping/hydrographic surveys
• Carbon dioxide monitoring and ocean acidification data gathering
• Fisheries surveys
• Marine animal population assessments
• High precision water quality measurements in the Great Lakes
• Augmentation or replacement of coastal weather buoys
• Improvement of domain awareness of marine sanctuaries
Additionally, there will be research expeditions to augment weather satellite data collection records by providing high resolution, surface (in-situ) data over long duration time periods (up to a year) and vast ocean expanses never before affordable or feasible to collect.
“We are excited to be working closely together with NOAA to advance ocean observations with long duration autonomous systems,” said Bill Vass, CEO of Liquid Robotics. ”We believe our Wave Glider technology provides a cost efficient way to gather scientific and environmental data to address the many challenges ahead.”
Ultra Electronics USSI and Liquid Robotics Announce the Development of Long Duration, Maritime Security Solution
8 April 2014 – Liquid Robotics and Ultra Electronics USSI today announced the joint development of a revolutionary and cost effective surveillance system for the global maritime security market. This new product leverages the Liquid Robotics Wave Glider, the world’s first wave powered ocean robot, with Ultra Electronics USSI’s state of the art acoustic sensing and signal processing to provide a persistent, best-of-breed, surveillance capability. This solution helps address the critical need for affordable, long duration, maritime surveillance of the world’s Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), Exclusion Economic Zones (EEZs), ports and coastlines.
“Countries around the globe are losing valuable natural resources and economic opportunity without the ability to persistently patrol their coastlines, MPAs and EEZs,” said Bill Vass, CEO of Liquid Robotics. “This strategic partnership will bring to market a powerful solution with the ability to help close this gap globally.”
The Sentinel Passive Acoustic Sensor, designed and manufactured by Ultra Electronics USSI, will be scalable and configurable to meet the end user’s operational requirements covering a broad range of mission applications. The sensor/software suite is designed to acoustically detect, track and form contact reports on waterborne targets that are transmitted to a command and control node on shore, ship or aircraft platform. Contact reports will contain spatial information that allows for data fusion with other sensor sources to achieve an affordable common operational picture that will provide the user maximum situational awareness. Applications for this product are vast and include area surveillance, perimeter trip wire notification, marine mammal monitoring and data collection, environmental data collection and defense and military mission capability sets.
Liquid Robotics’ Wave Gliders will host the Sentinel Passive Acoustic Sensors in conjunction with additional weather, optical, communications and computing resources to provide real time maritime domain awareness. Able to operate 24x7, through all weather conditions, the Wave Glider reduces the risk and costs to long duration maritime security.