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NEWSFLASH: SOLAR POWER ENERGY - IT REALLY WORKS!
After 19 months on the water, the solar-powered ship MS Turanor PlanetSolar finished its journey around the globe in the Hercule Harbor in Monaco on May 4.
“We are extremely happy to have achieved this first world tour with solar energy,” the ship’s captain Swiss Raphael Domjan said from the dock. “We have shown that we have the technologies as well as the knowledge to become sustainable and safeguard our blue planet.”
Amanda H. Miller MAY 04, 2012
"A WORD FROM THE BRIDGE"
Based in the National Maritime College of Ireland in Ringaskiddy, Co Cork, SEA-Tech provides tactical IT consulting, technical professional services and project management as well as rapid response technical support to the marine sector in Ireland and overseas.
Established in 2005 and operating under the philosophy of “we do I.T. the way you want it done”, we operate as both a prime contractor for research and academic, coastal and marine engineering, yachting, SMEs and as a subcontractor for marine engineering, shipping agents, chandlers, IT vendors, integrators. Our engineering power and consulting are the backbone of successfull projects.
Still we are very different from any other I.T. Company in Ireland. We are IT experts with marine experience, whose primary goal is to serve you, our customer. Sure, other people say this too - but do they really mean it? Do they live it? We do - and our existing clients will tell you so. SEA-Tech has earned a strong reputation for delivering value in line with customer requirements both on land and at sea.
Founder & Director
In Decembre 2010, our Wicklow based Marine surveillance station has reached 99.8% avaialbility (2154 hours online / 2158 total hours).
Fix I.T. Marine IT Surveillance Project, aims to provide a better picture of marine traffic in/around Ireland. This station was launched on April 2006 in Cork (call sign OCEAN Alpha), was then rebuilt on Linux using a recycled receiver, an IBM T30 running CentOS Linux with AIS Dispatcher. The station was relocated in July 2011 to Wicklow at the entrance to the Irish Sea. This AIS Station is entirely built with recycled IT spare parts. If you are interested in Marine IT for any commercial or private purpose, please call +353 21 4849102.
The system is based on AIS (Automatic Identification System). As from December 2004, the International Maritime 
Organization (IMO) requires all vessels over 299GT to carry an AIS transponder on board, which transmits their position, speed and course, among some other static information, such as vessel’s name, dimensions and voyage details.
The most spectacular aspect of our setup is the area covered with recycled IT spare parts, today at the time writing this article: 6273 square kilometers. The average reception distance is 28.97 Nautical Miles but we have recorded positions at 55.88 NM. Our station has monitored up to 29 vessels simultaneously, computing up to 396 positions at a time.
References:
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automatic_Identification_System
AIS is initially intended to help ships avoid collisions, as well as assisting port authorities to better control sea traffic. AIS transponders on board vessels include a GPS (Global Positioning System) receiver, which collects position and movement details. It includes also a VHF transmitter, which transmits periodically this information on two VHF channels (frequencies 161.975 MHz and 162.025 MHz – old VHF channels 87 & 88) and make this data available to the public domain. Other vessels or base stations are able to receive this information, process it using special software and display vessels locations on a chart plotter or on a computer.
Message on the wall...
Aine Wrenne, Estate Manager, South Ring Business Park
