Page 16: of Marine Technology Magazine (September 2021)

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Sofar Ocean Technologies www.sofarocean.com

Based in San Francisco, CA, Sofar’s Spotters and Smart

Mooring devices are designed to bring real-time, accurate and planet-scale coverage of ocean intelligence across all ? ve of the world’s oceans. Led by Tim Janssen with 45 em- ployees, Sofar has created global network of IoT-enabled

Spotter buoys primed with Smart Mooring subsea capabili- ties, representing the largest source of real-time ocean intel- ligence available to governments, companies and scientists.

Together, Sofar’s Spotters and Smart Mooring systems are powering Aqualink, the largest coral reef monitoring system in the world. The Aqualink conservation project is critical to modular payload capabilities dominating space, the Sofar protecting more than 200 sensitive coral reef sites globally, team is playing out a similar concept in the ocean. Sofar and Sofar expects to deploy across all 200 sites by the end now maintains 100% global coverage across all ? ve oceans, of 2021. Sofar also launched a non-commercial license pro- with thousands of sensors deployed at any given time. With gram in June 2021, making the data gathered from its Spot- Sofar’s Spotter and Smart Mooring devices, scientists and ter and Smart Mooring devices freely available to scientists ocean industries can quickly con? gure sensor payloads to for research and educational purposes. collect real-time physical, biological and chemical data

Like the innovation trend of low-cost nano-satellites with from the ocean at very low cost.

ancy; Bend stiffeners/restric-

MARINE tors; Flexible and retro? t J-tubes

TECHNOLOGY

Product solutions for offshore

TV oil and gas; Drilling/distributed

Watch the video @ bit.ly/3EEPx5N riser buoyancy; Thermal insula- tion; ROV/AUV buoyancy; Ca- ble protection; Bend restrictors/ stiffeners; and Riser protection guards. Many of Balmoral’s SURF-related products are ac- credited by Bureau Veritas to API 17L standards.

Balmoral

Developed for the offshore wind sector, Balmoral Fibre- www.balmoralo? shore.com

Flex cable protection technology utilizes a novel composite

Established in 1980, Balmoral today is 350-employees strong of polyurethane and polyester ? bers to create a braided hose and is led by Jim Milne, President and CEO. Balmoral works style system for the protection of subsea ? xed wind power in the design, development and delivery of buoyancy, protec- cables. Cable protection systems were designed to protect tion and insulation products for the offshore energy sector. the cable during installation with little to no protection made

The oil and gas industry has been likened to the space race in available over the operational lifetime. Ultimately, this sig- its never-ending quest for enhanced products, progressive op- ni? cantly increased the OPEX costs of offshore windfarms by erating procedures and materials development to improve per- increasing service requirements and equipment replacement formance and maximize returns. This philosophy is now be- on failure. The technology objectives of Balmoral FibreFlex ing adopted by the renewables sector, particularly in offshore include: increasing cable stiffness; managing cable curvature wind. Balmoral invests in R&D and the company continues to over life of ? eld operations; avoiding introducing a thermal lead the subsea buoyancy and elastomer solutions market with barrier to the cable; improving axial and torsional stiffness, industry-leading product and materials development. The fol- scour erosion and burial-point migration; creeping and stress- lowing products are provided to the offshore wind sector: ing relaxation response controlled and minimized; prevention

Cable protection systems (CPS); Surface/subsurface buoy- of long-term component failure; and corrosion-resistance.

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