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56 st / March 2015 www.sea-technology.com AWI RV Upgrades to New, Environmentally Friendly Engines The RV Heincke, one of the ships operated by the Alfred Wegener Insti- tute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI), recently re- ceived three new main engines. With the addition of particle flters and downstream exhaust-gas flter systems, the ship is now both more economical and environmentally friendlier. The 54.5-meter-long Heincke has been in service since 1990, and until recently was still running on its origi- nal engines. The engines were essen- tially worn out and were no longer economical because they burned too much fuel and were starting to pro- duce more and more costs for mainte- nance and replacement parts. The ship has now been reftted with three new MAN (Hamburg, Germany) diesel engines rated at 532 kilowatts, essentially matching the output of the original equipment. Following a number of test cruises, the vessel was scheduled to depart for the North Sea on its frst expedition with the new engines in February. Joining the FS Mya II, which entered service in 2013, the Heincke marks the second AWI research vessel to utilize environmentally friendlier technology. Edradour Diving Support Vessel Launches for IMR Operations N-Sea (Zierikzee, Netherlands) has launched its third diving support ves- sel. The Edradour represents a £1.5 million investment for the company and will be immediately utilized in its inspection, maintenance and repair (IMR) operations in the North Sea, as well as in Holland and Germany. Similar to its sister vessel, the Ab- erlour, the Edradour features added capability and redundancy, making it ideally suited for restricted area access around offshore vessels, platforms and mobile offshore drilling units where diving support vessels have limited ac- cess for maintenance and surveys. The Edradour will be utilized as a specialist diving and intervention craft for the inspection of subsea structure, light construction works, debris re- moval, special periodic surveys and inshore harbor survey work. Testing for Sonar CoPilot Software Improvements SeeByte (Edinburgh, Scotland) and VideoRay (Pottstown, Pennsylvania) have successfully developed and test- ed improvements to the Sonar CoPilot system. These software upgrades in- clude improvements to the user inter- faces and target tracking features. The system provides a comprehensive tool to allow for one-click automated target inspections using a man-portable ROV. The software allows a target to be iden- tifed by the operator, and the comput- er controls the thrusters to maneuver to within visual range. The system has undergone success- ful testing in a variety of environments to ensure its reliability. The VideoRay was fown in the FloWave Ocean tank, a new state-of-the-art facility located at Edinburgh University that aims to simulate ocean conditions. The system was also tested in-water at Dunbar pier off the North Sea and at the Wave Tank at Heriot-Watt University. marine electronics Our industry's largest, most infuential event is missing something important... You. The one event you can't miss. Get the full details at auvsishow.org #unmanned15