Woods Hole Group

Asset Tracking

This service was developed to provide operations and logistics managers the ability to monitor the geographic position of individual vessels or a fleet of vessels located anywhere in the world from one interactive, user-friendly mapping interface. Positional data from a satellite-linked GPS beacon can also be integrated into a client’s existing GIS to place vessels in context with proprietary datasets.

The asset tracking beacon is self-contained, battery powered, and housed in a robust, waterproof hull designed to withstand the most extreme maritime conditions. HMI utilizes several satellite communication systems (Iridium, Globalstar) in its EddyWatch® programs; however, for Asset Tracking, the Iridium Short Burst Technology has proven to be the most appropriate and reliable.

The advantages of using the Iridium transmitter include:

• The ability to transmit positions from virtually any location in the world;
• The functionality of the unit to ‘back fill’ positions if a satellite is not acquired during a scheduled report time; and, most importantly--
• The flexibility to remotely change the report rate (e.g.: from 1 position per day to 1 position every 15 minutes).

Features of the MetOcean Mapper include, but are not limited to:

• The ability to observe past positions;
• An animation tool for viewing previous activity;
• The ability to view a text file of a vessel’s historical raw positions;
• An icon indicating the location of the asset and direction of travel;
• A “mouse-over” box indicating latitude/longitude, time stamp of position, speed, and nearest city/port;
• A zoom, pan, and distance measurement tool; and
• Environmental layers displaying EddyWatch® data and modeled wind velocity and wave height in relation to a client’s site.

Clients of this service include: BHP Billiton Trinidad, BP America, BP Trinidad & Tobago, EOG Resources Trinidad, INPEX, Shell French Guiana, Transocean, and Vantage Deepwater Drilling.