MBARI rover sets world record, equipped with NOVATECH beacons
MBARI (Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute) recently broke a world record for longest distance traveled and duration sustained by a seafloor crawler. The Rover travelled across the seafloor autonomously while collecting scientific data for an entire year. It is the only untethered, entirely autonomous seafloor crawler in existence. You can read more about the world record and deployment by clicking here.
The Rover was deployed some 220 kilometers from shore and traversed the seafloor at 4,000km below the surface. It was equipped with a handful of NOVATECH beacons, including:
- AS-900A Argos beacon
- iBCN-3 Iridium beacon
- ST-400AR Xenon flasher
- RF-700AR VHF beacon
NOVATECH™ products have been proven throughout the world’s oceans and trusted around the globe for over 40 years.
The iBCN is the next-generation of our NOVATECH™ satellite beacons, designed for tracking and locating your assets up to full ocean depth (12,000m). The self-contained submersible beacons use the bi-directional capabilities of the Iridium® satellite telemetry system, allowing the end user to receive real-time GPS location of their asset and also change and send various reporting parameters to the beacon.
The real advantage of the iBCN technology is that if your asset surfaces unexpectedly, and it is outside of typical RF range, the Iridium® beacon (upon surfacing) will immediately capture a GPS position and transmit these coordinates, in near real-time, to a destination of your choice. Giving you peace of mind no matter where you are in the world.
Photo credit: MBARI Twitter (@MBARI_News)
Photo credit: MBARI Twitter (@MBARI_News)