MTR100 '13 WFS: Wireless for Subsea

Marine Technology Reporter

7 Houstoun Interchange Business Park, Livingston,
West Lothian, UK EH54 5DW
Tel: 845-862-6600
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://www.wfs-tech.com
CEO/President: Brendan Hyland
Number of Employees: 20
Annual Sales: $3,900,000.00

WFS is a leader in the delivery of subsea wireless instrumentation and control solutions to the Offshore Oil & Gas and Renewables industries worldwide. The company employs 20 staff, mainly in the Edinburgh office, with representation in Houston. Now in its 10th year of business, WFS launched what it claims was the world’s first commercially available underwater radio modem, seatooth S200, in 2006. Its broadband data link, now known as seatooth S300, was launched in January 2007 and later that year, the world’s first hybrid Radio/Acoustic modem was launched to the subsea market. In 2010, our compact modem seatooth® S100 arrived, closely followed by our subsea wireless video camera, viewtooth® in 2011. Our Wireless Power Transfer solution was launched this year in April.

The Tech:
WFS’s game-changing products have revolutionised control, communications and power transfer in underwater environments. Subsea wireless technology based on radio frequency (RF) has the distinct advantage that it will operate in adverse water conditions, is unaffected by acoustic noise, operational in shallow water, is immune to multipath and its Doppler effects are minimal. Hybrid products incorporating radio (i.e. acoustic, power, optical) build on the benefits afforded by RF to offer even more flexible and robust solutions for subsea challenges in deep water. Critically, WFS products support data transmission across the water/air and ground/air boundaries, cutting through the surf zone, ice, harbour walls, and other materials normally considered to be impenetrable. WFS is successfully addressing a broad range of short/medium range applications, supporting safety, reliability and efficiency offshore. These include deployments in the North Sea, Gulf of Mexico and SE Asia and include;
• Wireless subsea video (saving ROV time and improving reliability)
• Wireless data gathering from subsea sensors using an ROV or AUV (fast reliable download without physical connection)
• Wireless backup to maintain control of equipment, trigger alarms or initiate emergency sequence (providing an extra level of redundancy and real-time alerting)
• Wireless powering and recharging of subsea equipment and sensors without the use of wet mate connectors (downtime if the connection fails).

 

(As published in the July/August 2013 edition of Marine Technologies - www.seadiscovery.com)

Marine Technology Magazine, page 76, Jul 2013

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