Sonardyne announces the acquisition of MARSS Ltd, a high technology marine company with operations in the UK, Monaco and Italy. The Company is run by founder Johannes Pinl and supported by the European Union security directive.
MARSS has led a pan-European team of research and military institutes, legislative bodies and commercial operators in the development of innovative command and control solutions for vessel anti-piracy, counter-terrorism and waterside security. The MARSS team consists of a group of senior software and hardware engineers with a combination of NATO and Silicon Valley experience.
The Company’s product portfolio includes NIDAR™, an intuitive, centralised command and control platform which combines cutting edge technology with an easy to use multitouch user interface. The patented browser-based solution enables real time autonomous detection, tracking and classification of multiple targets from sensors including camera, radar, satellite and AIS as well as the diver detection sonar data provided by Sonardyne’s Sentinel system. NIDAR benefits from the added versatility of robust remote surveillance and control capability. Sensor agnostic, with proven interfaces to commercial and military systems the NIDAR system has been operational at multiple sites since the beginning of 2011.
In addition, the MARSS team has completed the development of a micro-surveillance radar enhanced by innovative algorithms that can detect the exact position and entry/exit point of a human on a vessel or strategic asset (i.e. offshore platform). MoBtronic™ fulfils the function of both an automatic man-overboard system to meet new regulations for commercial shipping and a security system to detect, classify and alert attempts to board a vessel or platform.
Commenting on the acquisition Rob Balloch, Strategic Development and Marketing Director for Sonardyne said: “ MARSS adds a significant system capability to our successful Sentinel underwater surveillance sonar product line, enabling Sonardyne to provide an effective integrated security solution for the protection of vessel and specific waterside assets”.
Johannes Pinl of MARSS added “Sonardyne is already the world leader in underwater security solutions, as part of its group we can now provide a more integrated service to our partners and new customers on a global basis”
[mappress] Subsea World News Staff , November 30, 2011; Image: Sonardyne