Page 28: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (August 2013)

28 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News ? AUGUST 2013 MARKET FOCUS MARITIME COMMUNICATIONS ExxonMobil Upgrades Cylinder Condition Monitoring Program KVH, Jeppesen Offer IP-MobileCast Content Delivery Service KVH Industries plans to launch a new IP-MobileCast content delivery service that will deliver Jeppesen?s entire ENC and Professional+ chart databases to mini-VSAT Broadband customers. Based on ongoing cooperative efforts between KVH and Jeppesen, it is antici-pated that this new service will enable automatic delivery of electronic charts over a very reliable satellite delivery ser- vice, eliminating the time-consuming, manual process of physically shipping DVDs containing chart updates to cus-tomers? ships. ?The launch of KVH?s new IP-MobileCast service is expected to offer tremendous value in delivering large Þ les such as chart databases to ves- sels, because of its anticipated ability to multicast the data to all customers in the satellite coverage area with a single satellite transmission of the Þ le, rather than sending the same Þ le individually to each vessel,? explains Brent Bruun, Executive Vice President of KVH?s Mobile Broadband Group. ?One-to-one transmission of entire chart databases, which can be as large as three gigabytes, would be prohibitively expensive. We?re hoping to change the economics by ap-plying a new, more ef Þ cient approach to delivering content to ships.?The new IP-MobileCast service is ex-pected to be a complete, end-to-end so-lution for content delivery. Source data will be encoded to be multicast using proprietary software that is expected to provide advanced error correction, Þ le compression and data validation that to-gether ensure a high level of reliability in Þ le delivery. Data will be delivered, decoded and validated using KVH?s on- board CommBox Ship/Shore Network Manager, which is built into the new uniÞ ed Integrated CommBox Modem (ICM) belowdecks unit standard in all of KVH?s new TracPhone V-IP series products. The IP-MobileCast service is being designed to not impact the normal service speeds or airtime plans of mini-VSAT Broadband subscribers, since it will be sent ?over-the-top? of service al- located for one-to-one services.The new IP-MobileCast service is ex-pected to be available to support all of Jeppesen?s ß exible chart licensing pro- grams, including traditional direct licens-ing, cost-effective dynamic licensing, and OpenENC Pay-As-You-Sail (PAYS) service by the end of 2013, subject to ongoing cooperation and Þ nal agreement between the parties. KVH and Jeppesen are already developing new ways to de-liver navigation content to vessels, and will continue to work together to offer innovative new services that will help vessel owners meet the regulatory and economic challenges of the 21st century. www.jeppesen.com www.minivsat.com/vip ExxonMobil Marine Fuels and Lubricants upgraded its marine engine condition monitoring program. The MobilGard cylinder condition monitoring (CCM) program now has the functionality for onboard oil samples to be compared against ExxonMobil?s data- base of nearly 100,000 test results, helping operators to protect and optimize the performance of their en-gines, the company siad. ?The upgrade of the MobilGard CCM program comes at a time when engine builders continue to push the boundaries in developing next generation models, and some marine operators are retroÞ tting older engines with fuel optimization kits,? said Steve Walker, Global Field Engineering Services Manager, ExxonMobil Marine Fuels and Lubricants. ?With the introduction of new models and adaptation of older engines, comprehensive engine condition monitoring programs are going to be key to help monitor these engines in operation going forward.?The MobilGard CCM program includes taking regular cylinder oil scrape down samples from the scavenge drain system. Two tests are carried out on the sample, which analyze the two key parameters of iron content and total base number (TBN) in the oil, using onboard measurement units. The concentration of iron in the scrape down oil provides an indication of an engine?s liner wear rate. The TBN level demonstrates if the engine?s liners are being protected from the effects of the acidic prod- ucts of combustion, or are in danger of suffering from corrosive wear. In addition to the onboard checks on scrape down oil, the MobilGard CCM program includes a range of laboratory-based tests to give further insights into the performance of the oil and engine. These include oil condition and wear metal analy-sis. According to the company, all Þ ndings are report- ed in an easy to understand format including historic trend analysis for the engine with advice on how to rectify areas of concern, and opportunities to opti-mize engine operation.www.exxonmobil.com Kongsberg?s New Radar Solution Kongsberg Maritime presented a new solution for the distribution of Radar data on board ships. Using an Eth-ernet based LAN is a signiÞ cant addition to Kongsberg Maritime?s K-Bridge Integrated Bridge System and, according to the manufacturer, is capable of improving safety and navigation through enhanced Radar function-ality. The system is currently undergoing Type Approval testing at DNV, with Þ rst customer delivery in Autumn 2013. The LAN topology is based on a newly developed Radar Interface Network (RIN) unit to be located at each antenna, connected to the Multi Functional Display (MFD) units on the K-Bridge by a Local Area Network (LAN). It provides enhancements in how Radar data is presented, made possible because of the digital network, improved signal processing and automatic Radar and pic-ture tuning. Images from several Radar antennas can be viewed on the same screen including the possibility to view both X-band and S-band data in the same image. www.km.kongsberg.com MR #8 (26-33).indd 28MR #8 (26-33).indd 288/1/2013 9:26:49 AM8/1/2013 9:26:49 AM