Page 68: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (April 1997)

67 69

Marine Electronics & Satcom Review 1 lummui iuma

EGS And C&C Form Strategic Inmarsat Improves Distress

Alliance System

Hong Kong-based Electronic &

Geophysical Service (EGS) and U.S.- based C&C Technologies Inc. have formed an alliance that will provide

EGS with advanced swath mapping technology and extencrits\existing subsea survey capabJJiftLltt^ill ocean depth. will be director of EGS, feonfiR^lities include devel-

Bs in submarine telecom- power cable route plan- surveys, pre-engineering studies for submarine pipeline route selection and offshore hydrocarbon infrastructure development.

For more information on EGS

Circle 50 on Reader Service Card

Sperry To Jointly Market

Infrared Imaging System

Litton-Sperry Marine Inc. and

Enhanced Vision Systems have signed an exclusive marketing agreement for the worldwide distribution of the

Advanced Marijpne\^frared Imaging

System (AMlSSfe Developed by

Enhanced^^Tkpifm Systems, the

AMIRIft inya^d imager is designed to ennaffc^safety and navigation at roviding ship operators with through salt spray, fog, high lity and darkness. Used as a complement to radars, the AMIRIS measures temperature differences to a fraction of a degree and displays images of the ships' exteriors inside the ships' bridges. .

For more information on Sperry

Circle 51 on Reader Service Card

UKHO Produces First Official

Electronic Chart

The United Kingdom Hydrographic

Office (UKHO) has prodjus^dits first official Electronic Chart (EMC) that complies with^3^jj7|Eckioir 3 stan- dards^ its raster- based^M^Tcl^B^Ie available for use in Rast^^^jniEtf-t Display Systems (RCDS), Vid is currently developing the vector-based ENC for use in

Electronic Chart Display and

Information Systems (ECDIS).

For more information on UKHO

Circle 53 on Reader Service Card 68

The Inmarsat-E satellite distress alerting system combin^Jhe position determination of Gldbal^ositioning

Systems (GPS) witfrfL* geostationary satellite tecbn3bgf>^f the Inmarsat communiiytsJnVs^ems. Inmarsat-E reportdCUj^ipfiyed to be 100 percent reliaVe lnwWwering a distress mes- sage jfatl^y two minutes of an initial alert \ Inmarsat-E Land Earth

Stations (LES).

For more information on Inmarsat

Circle 54 on Reader Service Card

EMS Secures Several Contracts

Electronic Marine Systems (EMS) has been selected by the inland river division of Sea River Maritime in

Baton Rouge, La., to develop ajfcialand river navigation system emf)loyinjjf the

EMS AuditedRtowrCataVBs^e and

EMS afo^ed^jy^S^dfem. EMS has alss bpm jj6nlra^ed by Arco to pr(^?dey"Ka^Lga\)r DGPS and by the

Pana^TK Canal Commission's

Dredging Division to provide a dredge automation system.

For more information on EMS

Circle 55 on Reader Service Card

Aanderaa Instruments

Aanderaa Instruments has released the Datalogger 3660, a low power, lightweight and watertight field oper- ating device for displaying ^ldsraring data. The unit is suited for \eld

Aanderaa has also announced plans^c^release its Wave and Tide

Recorder (WTR 9), which measures wave and tide conditions using a pre- cision pressure sensor.

For more information on Aanderaa

Circle 56 on Reader Service Card

CSSI Debuts Inmarsat B

Terminal

Commercial Satellite Systems Inc. (CSSI) has introduced the Satlink BL

Transportable Inmarsat B Terminal for worldwide mobile voice, fax and data communications. The Satlink BL operates through the worldwide logging

Automatic

Weather,

Mo

Inst

Inmarsat Moves Toward \ Limited Company i

The formal process to change Inmarsat — the opeiator of the worldV only global mobile satellite communications sys- tem — to\a more commercially-normal structure It as now started. \ /

The culmination of this process could see Inmarsat/reformed early in 1998 ae a limited liability, nationally-regis/ered com- pany which retadns links for intergovernmental oversight of its public serviceVbligations. /

Inmarsat, established in 1979 as an intergovernmental organization, has expanded rapidly from its piomeer role as a developer and provider of maritime satellite communications.

Adapting its technology to customer needs in ether areas, it now provides a broad yange of communications services for mobile and remote applications on land. Itp satellites also carry flight deck, operational and passenger telephone, e-mail and fax communications Mr most of the world's international airlines. \ /

Late last year, it launched the world's fpst hand-portable global mobile satellite phone\system, InmArsat-phone. Since then, demand has far outstripped supply. /

The first step in Inmarsat's fcrmal change procedure was the receipt of a formal letter, dXted January 31, 1997, from one of Inmarsat's 79 member-country governments proposing complete amendments to the Inmaipat Convention and

Operating Agreement, the international agreements under which Inmarsat currently operates. \i

The amendments currently propose® would have the effect of turning Inmarsat's operational am

Organization's Global Maritiml Distress andXSafety System (GMDSS). "After many ye/rs of discussion about how

Inmarsat could change and yhat it should change into, it is gratifying to see the forma/ process actually sVarted," said

Inmarsat Director General Jwarren Grace. \ "The clock is now ticking /nd the result could be anew, more commercially-agile Inmar/at early in 1998," he saick

This would follow adoption of the new structurX by the

Inmarsat Assembly, mad/ up of representatives of the\organi- zation's 79 member go^rnments, at its meeting in October this year. Mr. Grace /aid that the new company structure that would be create/ by the proposed amendments wrould best meet the wide range of expectations and ambitions chat had been expressed (Turing the negotiation process. He adcted that it was critical tp Inmarsat's continued success that it Tbe implemented as qi/ickly as possible following the Octob(V meeting. He said/it would offer many advantages, and th<^ first program thai could take advantage of the more flexible investment mecmnisms is Project Horizons, Inmarsat's ini- tiative to develo/ and diversify its business with its next gen- eration satellite system, scheduled to be launched in 2001- 2002. /

Under the new structure, Inmarsat's commitment to the provision of public service communications, to serving the needs of thf/maritime and aeronautical communities, and to the delivew of its full range of commercial services, would continue. /