Page 64: of Marine Technology Magazine (March 2015)

REGION FOCUS NEWFOUNDLAND & LABRADOR

NOTUS Electronics Ltd. mains affordable for all size and type of vessel. end monitoring solutions.

On the other end of the spectrum are some very new remote The ‘SAT’ in ‘EMSAT’ stands for ‘satellite’, and its inclu- sensing technology companies. EMSAT, with a team com- sion in the company name was no chance occurrence. Satel- posed of electrical and software engineers and environmental lites are necessary when operating in remote ocean environ- scientists, has developed real-time data monitoring software ments, a key area of focus for EMSAT. that is now being used as far a? eld as Brazil. Its technology The company is already engaged in a number of projects advances enhance existing sensor technology used in offshore related to Arctic monitoring.

oil and gas and other ocean-related industries, helping deci- Agile Sensor Technologies is also a new company and one sion-makers to derive data insight and provide information on of many examples of university-led R&D making its way out critical parameters, introducing a large degree of automation of the halls of academia and into commercialization. (alerts and data reports) and intuitive back-end interfaces (data Agile was established in late 2014 to commercialize tech- visualization and tailored dashboard). nologies developed during a Memorial University (MUN)

The dataset is diverse. EMSAT’s technology aids in the project that was originally focused on the so-called “sense and real time data processing of phenomena such as wave height, avoid” problem for unmanned aerial vehicles – it evolved to wave direction, ocean currents, and meteorological informa- include technologies for ocean application as well.

tion such as wind speed, wind direction, and temperatures. “The MUN team’s approach to sense and avoid was to put

Beyond environmental measurements, there is also a need for intelligent sensors on the vehicle,” said Brian Terry, Agile real-time data monitoring relating to integrity of a structure, President and CEO, adding that additional technologies were vessel or piece of equipment. developed to improve the capabilities of the motion platforms

For example, EMSAT is partnering with Seaformatics that that aimed the sensors.

has produced a unique ocean sensor platform ‘pod’ that sits Led by MUN Faculty member Nicholas Krouglicof, now on the seabed and harvests power from ocean currents us- Agile’s VP of R&D, the research team set up a Mechatronics ing a large turbine to provide long-term, real-time, wide-area Development and Prototyping Facility on the MUN campus, monitoring. EMSAT’s software solution can relay informa- capable of creating functioning mechatronic (mechanical and tion from the environmental parameters being monitored to electronic) machines.

the pod’s internal temperatures and the speed the turbine is The key technologies that have arisen from the MUN re- spinning. Strategic partnerships with sensor providers and search and licensed to Agile are an intelligent camera with industry partners allow EMSAT to provide innovative end-to- an embedded application that can be used for docking of au-

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