Artist rendition of ECA Robotics (ECA Group) A18D AUV shown fitted with Kraken’s AquaPix® Miniature Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Sonar
ST. JOHN'S, NL--(Marketwired - August 11, 2015) - Kraken Sonar Inc.
Kraken Sonar Inc. (TSX VENTURE: PNG) is pleased to announce that it has been awarded a contract valued at over US$325,000 by ECA Robotics (ECA Group -- France). Kraken will supply and help integrate its AquaPix® Miniature Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Sonar and Embedded Real-Time SAS Signal Processor on ECA Robotics' (ECA Group) newest A18D Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) (http://www.ecagroup.com/en/solutions/a18d).
"AquaPix® is a game changer for seabed survey," said Kraken President and Chief Executive Officer Karl Kenny. "We are delighted with this contract award by ECA Robotics (ECA Group). Demand for our AquaPix® sonar by some of the most influential companies in the unmanned maritime vehicle industry continues to validate the technology and open new market opportunities."
ABOUT AquaPix®
Kraken's AquaPix® is an industry leading sonar system providing military grade technology that provides superior 3D seabed imaging, faster data processing and a lower cost than conventional sonars. AquaPix® is designed for operation on AUVs, manned and unmanned surface vessels and towed bodies. The modular system uses the latest electronics, transducer arrays and signal processing software optimized for the demanding size, weight, power and cost constraints of unmanned maritime vehicles.
AquaPix® generates highly accurate bathymetry data (25cm along-track x 25cm across-track x 5cm height) co-registered and geo-referenced to the same pixel grid co-ordinates as the imagery. Operators can produce crisp seabed imagery and detailed 3D digital terrain maps of seafloor topography that exceed IHO SP-44 survey standards. The capability of generating centimeter-scale resolution in all three spatial domains also provides significant performance improvements in the detection, classification and identification of small seabed objects.
Conventional side scan systems are limited in that they only provide high-resolution imagery at short ranges. AquaPix® produces ultra high resolution seabed imagery (3cm along-track x 1.5cm across-track) with constant resolution to full range and high signal to noise ratio. The additional information provided by AquaPix® delivers detection and identification capabilities that cannot be achieved with conventional sidescan sonar. AquaPix® also achieves an area coverage rate that is significantly higher than that of the sidescan in a like for like comparison.
ABOUT ECA ROBOTICS
ECA Robotics (ECA Group) has a full range of AUVs (http://www.ecagroup.com/en/find-your-eca-solutions/auv). They all share the same IT architecture, autonomous software and supervision interface. The new A18 range represents ECA Robotics (ECA Group)'s new mid-range AUVs. They can be deployed from smaller vessels, using a variety of launching and recovery systems also offered by ECA Robotics (ECA Group)'s. Depending on system configurations, the price of A18 AUVs ranges from EUR1.5 million to EUR5 million.
Autonomous Underwater Vehicles are ideal sonar platforms and provide an extremely stable platform for acoustic and optical imaging in a variety of water depths. The A18D robot is able to travel underwater for more than 24 hours and up to 3,000 metres in depth. Equipped with next-generation sensors such as Kraken's AquaPix® and with the latest software technology in terms of missions, the robot is ideal for hydrographic surveys, oceanographic research, exploitation of seabed resources and search and rescue operations.
ABOUT KRAKEN SONAR INC.
Kraken Sonar Inc. (TSX VENTURE: PNG) is an industrial technology company, founded in 2012, that is dedicated to the production and sale of software-centric Synthetic Aperture Sonar (SAS) technology. The Company's products have been sold to leading defence contractors, commercial survey companies and research institutions for producing real-time, ultra high resolution imagery and bathymetry of the seabed. Marine Technology Reporter has three times named Kraken to their MTR100 -- a list of the 100 most influential companies in the international marine technology marketplace. For more information, please visit www.krakensonar.com.
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