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Do your sensors begin to drift within the first couple weeks of deployment due to biofouling?
Customer
A survey manager at an independent survey company that specializes in coastal surveys along the eastern seaboard of the U.S.
Story
In early 2018, the company won a contract that put them in a situation of conducting two surveys back to back. With the survey for a previously booked contract already scheduled to begin on a certain date, it was critical that the first project be completed on time. Any delays would jeopardize the second project, activating financial penalties and damaging the company’s reputation. Given the high sound speed variability expected in the first project’s survey area, the survey manager was concerned that the frequency with which they would need to stop the vessel to obtain sound velocity profiles would threaten punctual completion.
The survey manager knew he needed a way to collect SV data without ever stopping the vessel in order to finish the survey within the 30 day window and to the specifications stipulated in the contract. In anticipation of this, he tried an entry level system, but found it completely inadequate. He then approached AML. We provided MVP30, a real-time underway profiling system designed for the rigors of commercial survey work.
Results
The first survey was completed with room to spare, and the second began on time. Both customers were impressed not only by the timely delivery of their products, but the noticeably higher quality, which the survey manager attributed to the continuous, real-time feed of sound velocity data into the multibeam system.
Do you lack the time and budget to keep sensors performing well in-situ?
Customer
A survey manager at an independent survey company that specializes in coastal surveys along the eastern seaboard of the U.S.
Story
In early 2018, the company won a contract that put them in a situation of conducting two surveys back to back. With the survey for a previously booked contract already scheduled to begin on a certain date, it was critical that the first project be completed on time. Any delays would jeopardize the second project, activating financial penalties and damaging the company’s reputation. Given the high sound speed variability expected in the first project’s survey area, the survey manager was concerned that the frequency with which they would need to stop the vessel to obtain sound velocity profiles would threaten punctual completion.
The survey manager knew he needed a way to collect SV data without ever stopping the vessel in order to finish the survey within the 30 day window and to the specifications stipulated in the contract. In anticipation of this, he tried an entry level system, but found it completely inadequate. He then approached AML. We provided MVP30, a real-time underway profiling system designed for the rigors of commercial survey work.
Results
The first survey was completed with room to spare, and the second began on time. Both customers were impressed not only by the timely delivery of their products, but the noticeably higher quality, which the survey manager attributed to the continuous, real-time feed of sound velocity data into the multibeam system.
Are TBT antifouling methods outlawed in your country due to its toxic impact on the environment?
Customer
A survey manager at an independent survey company that specializes in coastal surveys along the eastern seaboard of the U.S.
Story
In early 2018, the company won a contract that put them in a situation of conducting two surveys back to back. With the survey for a previously booked contract already scheduled to begin on a certain date, it was critical that the first project be completed on time. Any delays would jeopardize the second project, activating financial penalties and damaging the company’s reputation. Given the high sound speed variability expected in the first project’s survey area, the survey manager was concerned that the frequency with which they would need to stop the vessel to obtain sound velocity profiles would threaten punctual completion.
The survey manager knew he needed a way to collect SV data without ever stopping the vessel in order to finish the survey within the 30 day window and to the specifications stipulated in the contract. In anticipation of this, he tried an entry level system, but found it completely inadequate. He then approached AML. We provided MVP30, a real-time underway profiling system designed for the rigors of commercial survey work.
Results
The first survey was completed with room to spare, and the second began on time. Both customers were impressed not only by the timely delivery of their products, but the noticeably higher quality, which the survey manager attributed to the continuous, real-time feed of sound velocity data into the multibeam system.
Are you unable to collect enough data before your sensors succumb to biofouling?
Customer
A survey manager at an independent survey company that specializes in coastal surveys along the eastern seaboard of the U.S.
Story
In early 2018, the company won a contract that put them in a situation of conducting two surveys back to back. With the survey for a previously booked contract already scheduled to begin on a certain date, it was critical that the first project be completed on time. Any delays would jeopardize the second project, activating financial penalties and damaging the company’s reputation. Given the high sound speed variability expected in the first project’s survey area, the survey manager was concerned that the frequency with which they would need to stop the vessel to obtain sound velocity profiles would threaten punctual completion.
The survey manager knew he needed a way to collect SV data without ever stopping the vessel in order to finish the survey within the 30 day window and to the specifications stipulated in the contract. In anticipation of this, he tried an entry level system, but found it completely inadequate. He then approached AML. We provided MVP30, a real-time underway profiling system designed for the rigors of commercial survey work.
Results
The first survey was completed with room to spare, and the second began on time. Both customers were impressed not only by the timely delivery of their products, but the noticeably higher quality, which the survey manager attributed to the continuous, real-time feed of sound velocity data into the multibeam system.
Are your sensors' critical surfaces fragile and complex, rendering most antifouling technologies unsuitable?
Customer
A survey manager at an independent survey company that specializes in coastal surveys along the eastern seaboard of the U.S.
Story
In early 2018, the company won a contract that put them in a situation of conducting two surveys back to back. With the survey for a previously booked contract already scheduled to begin on a certain date, it was critical that the first project be completed on time. Any delays would jeopardize the second project, activating financial penalties and damaging the company’s reputation. Given the high sound speed variability expected in the first project’s survey area, the survey manager was concerned that the frequency with which they would need to stop the vessel to obtain sound velocity profiles would threaten punctual completion.
The survey manager knew he needed a way to collect SV data without ever stopping the vessel in order to finish the survey within the 30 day window and to the specifications stipulated in the contract. In anticipation of this, he tried an entry level system, but found it completely inadequate. He then approached AML. We provided MVP30, a real-time underway profiling system designed for the rigors of commercial survey work.
Results
The first survey was completed with room to spare, and the second began on time. Both customers were impressed not only by the timely delivery of their products, but the noticeably higher quality, which the survey manager attributed to the continuous, real-time feed of sound velocity data into the multibeam system.
Do you struggle to bid competitively without risking profitability due to unpredictable maintenance requirements?
Customer
A survey manager at an independent survey company that specializes in coastal surveys along the eastern seaboard of the U.S.
Story
In early 2018, the company won a contract that put them in a situation of conducting two surveys back to back. With the survey for a previously booked contract already scheduled to begin on a certain date, it was critical that the first project be completed on time. Any delays would jeopardize the second project, activating financial penalties and damaging the company’s reputation. Given the high sound speed variability expected in the first project’s survey area, the survey manager was concerned that the frequency with which they would need to stop the vessel to obtain sound velocity profiles would threaten punctual completion.
The survey manager knew he needed a way to collect SV data without ever stopping the vessel in order to finish the survey within the 30 day window and to the specifications stipulated in the contract. In anticipation of this, he tried an entry level system, but found it completely inadequate. He then approached AML. We provided MVP30, a real-time underway profiling system designed for the rigors of commercial survey work.
Results
The first survey was completed with room to spare, and the second began on time. Both customers were impressed not only by the timely delivery of their products, but the noticeably higher quality, which the survey manager attributed to the continuous, real-time feed of sound velocity data into the multibeam system.
OSU’s cameras and dissolved oxygen sensors completed a six month deployment without maintenance.
UV antifouling in this extreme environment helped Ocean Networks Canada reduce the cost and complexity of subsea monitoring sites.
The first in-situ trial of AML's UV biofouling control technology validated its ability to prevent marine growth.
AML’s UV Biofouling Control is proven to remove both the technical and financial unpredictability brought on by biofouling during in-situ deployments.
With hundreds of devices deployed around the world, AML’s UV•Xchange and Cabled UV are the market leaders in biofouling control technologies.
Prevent biofouling on other subsea equipment as described above.
Photo courtesy of Ocean Networks Canada
When instrumentation is deployed in the water in a stationary position for long periods of time, biofouling will occur. This marine growth causes sensor drift, requiring preventative measures be taken to ensure accurate data. To date, the two most common methods to manage biofouling were mechanical wipers and chemical dosing. Neither is ideal, with the first being unsuitable for sensitive lenses and complex geometries, and the second being harmful to the environment.
AML’s biofouling control technology uses ultraviolet light to provide a non-toxic, non-contact solution to prevent marine growth.
Over 480 days in situ: AML’s UV•Xchange preventing fouling on sensors during a technology demonstration at Ocean Network Canada’s Folger Pinnacle Observatory. UV•Xchange modules are installed on the left and middle instruments to protect the sensors. The sensors on the instrument on the right are unprotected, and are heavily fouled as a result.
AML CTDs originally deployed in October of 2013 at Ocean Networks Canada’s Folger Pinnacle site performed for over two years without maintenance. With UV•Xchange, long term monitoring can produce data such as in the graph at left. The timelines of ocean observation and environmental monitoring deployments previously limited to weeks or months due to fouling can now be set in years.
Biofouling is the unwanted marine growth that accumulates on stationary, submerged objects.
UV light inhibits the development of organic films and early-stage colonizers that initiate the fouling process.
The history of biofouling control is filled with compromises and limitations.
Read about the technology behind UV•Xchange and Cabled UV in the Journal of Ocean Technology
Read our article about UV•Xchange in Marine Technology Reporter
Read our article on UV•Xchange and biofouling control in ECO
Read the Feature Story in Ocean News & Technology
Read our September 2014 article on UV Biofouling Control in Marine Technology Reporter
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