Page 50: of Marine News Magazine (May 2014)

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PROPULSION

It is no secret that Remote Tracking, Monitoring, and

Notifi cation Systems for just about anything that fl oats, is here. In on the ground fl oor of all of that, more than 18 months ago, was the organization that provides premier power solutions in the medium- and high-speed segments with outputs from 93 to 16,000 kW in main propulsion and 10 to 7,680 kWe in marine generator sets. gplink, the satellite/cellular based tracking, monitoring, and notifi cation system was specifi cally designed just for

Cat engines. That’s about to change, however. Beyond the all-important monitoring of diagnostics and operating pa- rameters – with ten basic features coming standard – the system does so much more. Caterpillar Marine Power Sys- tems has so far delivered hundreds of these systems to op- erators and that number is poised to increase dramatically as CAT continues to change how it does business.

Today, gplink is authorized for use in over thirty other countries across fi ve continents with several in the approval process set to come online in the near future. Surprisingly affordable, the dynamic system works with both cellular (inland) and satellite (offshore) systems and more impor- tantly, operates independently from other communication systems aboard the vessel. Through the utilization of dual band cellular technology with GSM communications, as well as the Iridium satellite system, gplink is able to pro- vide vessel coverage on a global basis. Monitoring both diagnostics and engine parameters, the system typically installs in about 4 hours with an extremely small physical footprint and global service and coverage. A call center is manned by trained Caterpillar Technical experts on a 24/7 basis to provide support to subscribers. These experts can remotely access any fault codes or operating conditions, review a vessel’s alarm status, troubleshoot any engine con- ditions and potentially eliminate a service technician’s pre- liminary visit to a vessel. gplink can provide immediate notifi cation via e-mail,

SMS, and/or phone of any critical alarm or event. For those users operating in near coastal or inland waters, an iPhone APP to enhance the service is also here.

Remote monitoring is the new wave for marine equip- ment in a fast changing global environment. Chad McIn- tosh, Product Defi nition Engineer at Caterpillar Marine told MarineNews recently, “Over the years we have seen increasing interest from our customers to fi nd new ways to optimize their fl eet operations in order to save on Total

Operating Costs including fuel, maintenance costs, and maximizing vessel availability time. With the onboard ship technology improvements, remote monitoring is becom- ing a more effective way to meet these needs. Additionally, with the advent of increased usage of electronic onboard monitoring equipment, the ability to have a fully connect- ed vessel is becoming increasingly likely.

Caterpillar Marine’s Product Link is the second genera- tion iteration of its successful gpLink engine monitor. Cat- erpillar Marine currently offers gpLink as a remote moni- toring solution, but the fi rm is currently working on its next generation version. McIntosh adds, “We are planning to take our current offering and use feedback from our customers to make it even better. We are still in process of fi nalizing the naming and commercial offering struc- ture. Based on our current timeline, we expect to begin phasing in select offerings to our customers for both new gplink Evolves to Serve the Entire Market

Second generation of Caterpillar’s gpLink will do more and serve a wider market.

By Joseph Keefe

On-Demand Diagnostics gplink remotely monitors the most critical parameters of engines, generators as well as select auxil- iary systems, such as electrical power, smoke alarms & bilge levels.

Instant Notifi cations gplink notifi es of any alarm conditions that may occur with your power or other critical safety systems.

Alert notifi cations are sent automatically according to your delivery preferences via SMS text message gplink can also interface with existing security systems to instantly notify you of tripped alarms.

KEY CAPABILITIES

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