VALEPORT - Is a Mayflower MAS400 partner. Mayflower 400 2020 commemorates the 400th anniversary of the Mayflower's pioneering voyage to America in 1620 by the Pilgrim founding fathers.

Valeport entered its second half-century as a world-leader in underwater instrumentation in 2020, looking back on a remarkable journey since 1969 as to innovation in the marine sector as a whole.

Valeport’s riverside facilities are in Totnes in the southwest of the UK, where they have  facilities for design, CNC machining, environmental testing, assembly, calibration and servicing of all their instruments.

The Reade Building, next door to their original site, houses the entire production facility with a fully equipped CNC machine shop, state of the art laboratory, and two floors of ESD protected assembly workshop.

The original building hosts their expanding R&D, sales and service capabilities.

Valeport export the vast majority of their products directly via more than 70 agents in over 54 countries to ensure a responsive and efficient global service.

22 September 2020 Valeport boards the Mayflower Autonomous Ship project

The Mayflower Autonomous Ship which is set to self-navigate across the Atlantic autonomously in Spring 2021, will be fitted with the new Valeport uvSVX and a Valeport Altimeter to provide vital precise underwater depth data which will help protect the vessel and the onboard technology on its epic journey.

Sailing from Plymouth, UK, to Plymouth, USA, the Mayflower Autonomous Ship (MAS) will trace the route of the original 1620 Mayflower to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the famous voyage. With no human captain or crew, it will become one of the first full-sized, fully autonomous vessels to cross the Atlantic.

Marine research organisation, ProMare is leading the development of the MAS. Throughout the 3220-mile journey the MAS will function as a science laboratory and Valeport’s uvSVX and VA500 Altimeter will be used to enhance the operational capability of the MAS. The MAS will also be one of the first applications for Valeport’s new compact and lightweight SVP profiler, the uvSVX.

With the option of integrating a high accuracy pressure sensor (0.01%) as used in the miniIPS it becomes an unbeatable package. State of the art signal processing offers unrivalled range and performance from a 500kHz transducer. Expect millimetre precision, 0.1m – 100m range, RS232/RS485/0-5V & 0-10V analogue outputs with a wide range power supply in a compact, robust package.

Fitted through the hull of the MAS the uvSVX features Valeport’s Sound Velocity, Temperature and Depth technology and delivers salinity, conductivity and density data, along with SVP as standard. The new uvSVX has been designed specifically for vehicles where space is a premium and high accuracy is assured with the addition of Valeport’s interchangeable pressure module that allows users to maximise operational specific depth requirements.

Powered by hybrid wind, solar and diesel propulsion system, the MAS vessel will carry research pods for sensors and scientific instrumentation. Scientists coordinated by ProMare, with support from IBM, will use the data from the research pods to advance understanding in several areas including: maritime cybersecurity, marine mammal monitoring, sea level mapping and ocean plastics.

Valeport’s instruments are ideally suited for deep ocean applications. The compact and robust Valeport uvSVX and VA500 Altimeter have state of the art signal processing technology which provides stable, repeatable readings that deliver high accuracy data performance.

MAS project director, Brett Phaneuf commented: ‘We’ve worked with Valeport for many years, integrating their equipment onto our marine vehicles, and when it comes to the Mayflower Autonomous Ship, we prise reliability, precision, low power and exemplary data above all else, and the uvSVX and VA500 Altimeter provide exactly what we need to safely navigate and enable great science at sea.’

The original Mayflower travelled at a maximum speed of around 2.5 knots and took more than two months to reach its destination, landing in Plymouth Massachusetts on 21 December 1620. The modern, upgraded autonomous Mayflower travels at up to 15 knots and should arrive in less than two weeks.

Valeport’s Head of Sales, Kevin Edwards added: “With sensor technology guiding the MAS decision making, this is an exciting demonstration of autonomous seafaring technology and we are immensely proud that our instruments are involved in the project.”

Valeport has supplied the subsea sector for more than 50 years and continues to innovate and lead the way in the design and manufacture of precision instrumentation for the hydrographic and oceanographic communities.

uvSVX - Sound Velocity, Temperature and Pressure with calculated Salinity & Density for an Underwater Vehicle.

CONTACTS

Valeport Ltd

St. Peter's Quay

Totnes, Devon

TQ9 5EW United Kingdom

+44(0)1803 869292
sales@valeport.co.uk

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LINKS & REFERENCE

https://www.valeport.co.uk/

https://www.valeport.co.uk/news/valeport-gets-on-board-with-the-mayflower-autonomous-ship-project/

https://mas400.com/
https://newsroom.ibm.com/then-and-now