PROFILES - The Brooke Ocean Technology Limited Newsletter (Nov 2002 Edition)

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Volume 1

November 2002 Brooke Ocean Technology Ltd.

Welcome to the 1st edition of our quarterly newsletter - PROFILES. We have created this newsletter to keep our customers, friends and colleagues abreast of developments within our company. Please feel free to forward a link to this newsletter to friends and colleagues.

We hope you enjoy PROFILES and look forward to your comments and feedback.

LASER OPTICAL PLANKTON COUNTER (LOPC) - FIRST COMMERCIAL SYSTEM DELIVERED
BOT recently licensed a device from Fisheries and Oceans Canada that will allow plankton to be counted and identified in a more efficient manner. This device, called the Laser Optical Plankton Counter (LOPC), utilizes a laser and high-resolution photo diode array to provide advanced data collection features not available on conventional plankton counters.

Testing and trials of the first commercial LOPC were recently completed from the Bedford Institute of Oceanography research vessel Hudson. This system was tested in stand-alone mode, towed on a vertical profiling frame and in a Moving Vessel Profiler (MVP) free fall fish. New interface software was also evaluated during these trials.

Since production has commenced, we have received orders for 6 LOPCs with additional orders expected in the near future.

http://www.brooke-ocean.com/lopc.html

BOT BUSY FILLING MOVING VESSEL PROFILER (MVP) ORDERS
We just delivered a second MVP300 system to the Institute of Marine Survey and Charting in China. Another MVP300 system was just shipped to the Korean - National Oceanographic Research Institute (NORI). NORI staff recently visited BOT for training.

We are presently building two MVP100 systems for the Dutch Navy. These units will be installed on new hydrographic survey vessels presently under construction and will be used to collect underway sound velocity profiles.

http://www.brooke-ocean.com/mvp_main.html

HANDLING SYSTEMS DELIVERED TO OCEANWORKS / RUSSIAN NAVY
Earlier this year BOT delivered 4 crane-based launch systems (CBLS) to Oceanworks. These systems are used to deploy and recover the Oceanworks HardSuit one atmosphere diving system. This equipment was part of a large purchase of submarine escape and rescue equipment made by the Russian Navy in the wake of the Kursk disaster.

The above hardware has arrived in Russia and naval personnel are presently being trained in the operation and maintenance of these systems.

BOT ACTIVE IN THE AUV HANDLING SYSTEM MARKET
The growing AUV market has resulted the following contracts:

a) Handling system to Thales Geosolutions for their Bluefin Robotics survey AUVs. This system has been delivered and will be commissioned in late 2002/early 2003.
b) Handling system to Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) for their AUV. This system will be delivered in late November and commissioned in January 2003.
c) A team of BOT and Allied Systems has been awarded a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract to develop an automated handling system for a variety of offboard vehicles, including the Remote Minehunting System. We will be utilizing our expertise in automation and robotics to develop this technology.

SEAHORSE DATA COLLECTED
Defense Research Development Canada (DRDC - formerly DREA) have deployed 2 Seahorse units earlier this year to collect CTD data and presented the results at a recent NATO meeting at SACLANT headquarters in LaSpezia, Italy. The results were well received.

SeaHorse is a profiling platform that harnesses wave energy to move a profiling buoy up and down a mooring wire. It can accommodate a variety of sensors, including a Sea-Bird 19+ CTD, fluorometer, and turbidity sensor.

http://www.brooke-ocean.com/s_horse1.html

NEW CONE PENETROMETER PROVIDING EXCELLENT DATA
Defense Research Development Canada been collecting seafloor geotechnical data using the new Free Fall Cone Penetrometer (FFCPT). FFCPT is an instrumented probe that is allowed to free fall into the seafloor. By measuring the de-acceleration of the probe and dynamic pore pressure response a plot of sediment characteristics can be generated. BOT are presently working on the development of interactive post processing software that will be capable of semi-automatically processing these results.

The penetrometer is proving to be very capable of profiling the geotechnical characteristics of the seafloor. Excellent agreement has been found with the new Resistivity Module and the porosity of core samples collected at the same site.

http://www.brooke-ocean.com/ffcpt-01.html

NEW SOFTWARE FOR METERING SHEAVES USEFUL FOR SEABIRD USERS
Our metering sheaves are now equipped with improved software that allows sheave data to be displayed on the customer's PC. This can be used for any application but was specifically developed for rosette operations with Sea-Bird CTDs.

This software permits the sheave to operate within Sea-Bird's SEASAVE software. One of the benefits is the ability, through a shared file, to display rosette altitude and depth at the sheave remote display. The software also allows messages to be sent from the lab PC to the winch operator. The messages can be acknowledged by the winch operator as well. This software can be customized for other applications as required.

For CTD rosette operations, a significant benefit is the ability to display depth and altitude at the remote display. This will allow the winch operator to avoid contact with the bottom and accurately position the rosette at any depth requested by the lab operator. Also, by displaying sheave information on the Sea-Bird PC, the requirement for a 2nd PC or a remote display to display sheave information in the lab is eliminated.

Sales of our metering sheave are steadily increasing, with units recently shipped to the Bedford Institute of Oceanography, US Coast Guard Ship Healy and Aquatic Sciences, Inc.

http://www.brooke-ocean.com/imsheave.html

AUV WORK VAN DELIVERED TO THALES
As part of our AUV handling system contract with Thales Geosolutions, BOT delivered a fully equipped 20 ft work van to Thales. This van is heated and air-conditioned and is equipped with work benches, storage cabinets, a battery charging system and overhead lift. It has also been fitted with a deployable track system that allows the AUVs to be transferred to and from the work van under positive control.

http://www.brooke-ocean.com/workvans.html

TOWBODIES FOR ULTRA ELECTRONICS
BOT is presently testing two stable towbodies that are soon to be delivered to Ultra Electronics. The end user is the Korean Navy's Agency for Defense Development. These bodies were designed to accommodate several acoustic sources and other payloads. One body is a modified Endeco/YSI V-fin, while the other is a custom body based on the Moby series of towbodies developed by the Canadian Navy.

http://www.brooke-ocean.com/towbodies.html

BOT BUILDS SLIP RING WINCHES
BOT can supply a variety of custom slip ring winches for deploying and towing oceanographic instrumentation. These winches can be supplied with electro-hydraulic or electric drives. We have recently delivered electric winches for sound velocity probes to the Canadian Hydrographic Service and Geological Survey of Canada.

http://www.brooke-ocean.com/winch_main.html

ENGINEERING SERVICES
BOT provides engineering services to the marine and industrial communities. This includes machine design, structural analysis, hydraulic systems design, subsea equipment design and data acquisition systems. Please contact our manager of engineering services, Lee Miller (lmiller@brooke-ocean.com) if we can be of assistance.

http://www.brooke-ocean.com/bot_eng1.html

NEW AND IMPROVED WEB SITE
We have relaunched our web site with a fresh new look and simplified navigation. Information about BOT products and services is now more comprehensive and easier than ever to locate. Point your browser to http://www.brooke-ocean.com and see what Brooke Ocean Technology can offer you.

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