Polar Jack Software

Benjamin using EAC to join Recovery point

Sun, 10 Feb 2013 16:31:04 +0100

Finally, the Wave Glider Benjamin has found the EAC entry Southern from Samazer Reef and speed-up to 3 knots to travel 70 km in 24 hours. It crossed on Jan 24, 2013 the Papa Mau route, used in Nov 5, 2012. The next destination is supposed near Lay Elliott Island the Finish-line and the recovery point for Papa Mau 2 months and half ago.

Today, only 100 km are remaining for Benjamin UMV to finish the PacX challenge with a journey of 10.000 km from Hawaii and a stop at Samoa Island. So, only 2 or 3 days before the end of a 15 months mission.

Benjamin misses the Papa Mau's EAC entry

Tue, 05 Feb 2013 22:31:00 +0100

Arrived near the Samarez Reef at the beginning of February 2013 after 400 Nm (750 km) right to the expected entry point of the EAC (East Australian Current), the PacX Wave Glider Benjamin encounters a new difficulty. From 5 days, the Unmanned Marine Vessel (UMV) is doing loops even driven by human pilots from Liquid Robotics’ headquarter.

Instead of finding a strong surface current to ride up to Australia as the previous Wave Glider Papa Mau, the robot stumbled to strange swirls at the South East of the Samarez Reef. Even if the UMV Benjamin has taken a Northern path to join the Australia compared to Papa Mau , it crosses the reef more South and doesn’t find the EAC.

To quickly join the EAC, the robot will have to either go northern to the EAC entry point of Papa Mau, or go southern until finding a western way to join the EAC and ride up to Australia.

Augmented Reality using Appcelerator Titanium Starter

Sat, 12 Jan 2013 23:43:49 +0100

Augmented Reality using Appcelerator Titanium Starter:

Who this book is for

This book is for anybody who wishes to understand how to build an Augmented Reality Application. It uses the Appcelerator Titanium mobile development framework, but the techniques and practices can be applied to other frameworks and native code.

You will need to have a good working knowledge of development and JavaScript, it is not aimed at the beginner.

Benjamin Wave Glider right to the EAC

Thu, 10 Jan 2013 23:17:58 +0100

Three months after the winner Wave Glider Papa Mau, its companion Benjamin is now in the Queensland OceanMAPS area and approaches from the East Australian Current before ending its PacX Challenge (Pacific Cross). Less than 2 weeks after encountering the route of the Tropical Storm FREDA, the Wave Glider is fully operational to record data from its sensors until Australian coast. Unlike Papa Mau who has borrowed path south of New Caledonia, pilots of Liquid Robotics from Sunnyvale (CA) have chosen a northern route which seems faster to join the EAC. Today, at 1000 km from the arrival point, Benjamin is riding the waves slowly, less than 1 knots in a warmer water than Papa Mau.

Benjamin Wave Glider against FREDA Tropical Storm

Thu, 03 Jan 2013 00:19:10 +0100

Just before the new year, Benjamin, the Wave Glider manufactured by Liquid Robotics of the PacX Challenge, has endured a long night against the tropical storm FREDA near New Caledonia Island. Even with amazing weather conditions, the robot has recorded all data sensors during the four days event.

At 15:30 UTC on Dec 31, 2012, the small UMV (Unmanned Marine Vehicle) recorded the stronger weather conditions with the atmospheric pressure down to 972 mBar and average Wind Speed greater than 50 knots. The Datawell MOSE-G Wave sensor record a maximum of 9.87 meters height (more than 32 feet).

Return to Hawaii for Fontaine Maru

Fri, 30 Nov 2012 23:46:29 +0100

In a couple of hours, the Research Vessel of University of Hawaii, Kilo Moana, will arrive to Honolulu port, and on its board the Unmanned Marine Vehicles (UMV) alias Wave Glider, called Fontaine Maru. A fast 5 days return compared to the 6 months needed to explore the 1700 Nm along the #PacX challenge route to Japan.

Fontaine Maru rescued by Kilo Moana Research Vessel

Wed, 28 Nov 2012 23:54:51 +0100

As announced by the manufacturer of the Wave Glider, Liquid Robotics Inc. (CA/HI), Fontaine Maru, one of the PacX Challenge Japan team has been rescued by the Oceanographic Research Vessel named Kilo Moana. In the afternoon of November 25, the unmanned marine vehicle (UMV) has been picked up by the ”one who is looking for understanding of the deep sea” (“Kilo Moana” in Hawaiian) and return to Hawaii at the incredible speed of 12 knots to be repaired (10 times the normal speed). The arrival at Honolulu port is awaited to November 30 at noon.

After wining the first part of the PacX Challenge from San Francisco (CA) to Kamuela (HI) with near 3000 Nm traveled in 113 days, the second part began nicely for all four wave gliders until August 11, 2012 when Fontaine Maru recently passed by Piccard Maru (its Japan team companion), stopped to transmit data through Iridium. During 3 months, only the rescue beacon was alive and indicated the position of the wave glider. On November 10, the brain of the Wave Glider finally rebooted and the Iridium data transmission restarted. After a couple of days to refill the completely empty batteries with its two Solar panels, the pilot from Sunnyvale (CA) tried to command the submarine part and move the rudder, but no way to control the direction of the glider.

For the Japan team, troubles were not finished. Just after the reboot of Fontaine Maru, the second Wave Glider Piccard Maru has stopped to transmit data on November 17, 2012. Hope this UMV will be rescued soon by a gentle captain.

Papa Mau in the Australian News Paper

Thu, 22 Nov 2012 00:15:00 +0100

Few hours after his visit of Lady Elliott Island and his arrival to Burnett Heads, Papa Mau the Wave Glider, started from San Francisco (CA) just one year ago, has been interviewed by Jim Alouat the NewsMail reporter at Bundaberg.

Ocean explorer vessel arriving in Bundaberg

Today, the robot has been moved to a quiet place to be inspected by the team of Liquid Robotics Field Operation.

Man reunited with robot after year apart

Last kilometers for Papa Mau

Mon, 19 Nov 2012 23:36:45 +0100

At less then 4 Nm, Papa Mau is visiting the Lady Elliott Island the last coral cay before the finish-line in the Hervey Bay close to Fraser Island. The countdown of the remaining distance has fallen bellow 90 kilometers and as Liquid Robotics said, the manufacturer and the PacX challenge organizer, the arrival is awaited for two or three days. The last kilometers seem to be the longest ones (only 30 kilometers traveled during the last 24 hours).

One year with PacX Challenge Wave Gliders

Sat, 17 Nov 2012 11:57:37 +0100

This night at 2012-11-17T00:00:00Z, Papa Mau, Piccard Maru, Benjamin and Fontaine Maru Wave Gliders blow out their first birthday candle of the PacX Challenge. For this great day, Papa Mau has reduced its speed (not really expected) before crossing the finish-line and Fontaine Maru out of a three month sleep to be on the souvenir photo.

Remember, last November 17, 2011 at 00:00 GMT, four Wave Gliders designed by Liquid Robotics started to cross Pacific Ocean from San Francisco Bay to Japan for Piccard Maru and Fontaine Maru and to Australia for Papa Mau and Benjamin.

The first part of the challenge uses a common path for all aquatic robots through the Monterey Bay to Hawaii Big Island at the Liquid Robotics Test Center in Kamuela. After near 3000 Nm traveled with 8 meters wave height and 100 knots wind speed, Fontaine Maru arrives in Hawaii on 2012-03-09T00:55:55Z and broke the World Record of “greatest distance by an autonomous wave-powered vehicle”.

Two Month later, after a break at Hawaii for a checkup and small cares especially for Piccard Maru seriously bitten by a shark, the Australian took the direction to Brisbane (Aus) while the Japan team followed the North way to Shikoku (Jpn). During this second part of the Challenge, Papa Mau took the lead of the race and crossed the equator line on 2012-07-17T14:36:40Z and the IDL (International Date Line) or antimeridian on 2012-07-31T13:31:35Z.

During the way, Papa Mau encountered a large Chlorophyll bloom from June 20 until August 3, 2012 allowing to record lot of scientific data. One month later, the fastest robot crossed the deep New Hebrides Trench and rush to the finish-line in Australia. But in mid of October, arriving near the fast EAC (East Australian Current), Papa Mau has be stopped and deflected to a northern path and join the EAC entry. Five days ago, he finally crossed the EAC and speed up to near 5 knots pushed by the powerful ocean current.

On today (November 17, 2012), Papa Mau is at less 100 Nm from the Fraser Island Bay and the finish-line.

Papa Mau has found its "exit buddy" !!!

Mon, 12 Nov 2012 22:28:37 +0100

This is the final rush for the Wave Glider Papa Mau of the PacX Challenge. After a large bypass to approach the EAC (East Australian Current), the valorous robot has crossed the powerful ocean current today (November 12, 2012). Now, pushed by a strong current, it is riding at a fast speed up the 4.7 knots (8.7 km/h) - 3 times faster than its good mean performance. (Recorded at 2012:11:12T20:11:55Z located on 153.216 °E and 21.456°S)

So, as the famous ‘Nemo’ fish, it has found an exit buddy to be ejected from the EAC and whiz through Swain and Wreck Reefs to the bay of Fraser Island.

Watch: Do you have your exit buddy?

Data from SLAB Database of Liquid Robotics Inc.

Papa Mau at 250 km from East Australian Current Entry

Mon, 05 Nov 2012 23:42:20 +0100

Since October 13, the Papa Mau PacX Wave glider is trying to cross the last 600 km until Brisbane and encountered the EAC (East Australian Current), one of the most powerful and faster ocean current, generated by the mixture of warm water from the tropic and icy water from Antarctica. During the last 23 days, the faster marine robot manufactured by Liquid Robotics has traveled around 750 km to find a way to jump over the large ocean current. By using small scale vortex, the robot has moved slowly to the north and is now at around 250 km from a main entry of the EAC and a highway to the finish of the PacX Challenge.

On November 5, pilots, from the headquarter of Liquid Robotics at Sunnyvale CA, have driven the robot for the last race against time through meanders of the strong sea water current. Now, arrived in a warm water stream entry, the robot could join quickly the main branch of the EAC and rush to the coast of Australia.

Papa Mau locations coming from the slab data of Liquid Robotics Inc.

OceanMAPS slides coming from the Australian Bureau of Meterology.

Benjamin Wave Glider stops at Upolu Island

Tue, 02 Oct 2012 00:20:58 +0200

PacX Status, the finishline board of PacX Wave Gliders Challenge announce ‘last heard at 2012-10-01T19:46:50Z’ for the Second robot Benjamin. The last position 13.827°S and 172.032°W is located at the border of Upolu Island (Samoa).

This is the local morning and the sun is 31° over the horizon. The weather is cloudy (50%) but dry and the visibility is good (10 miles). The air temperature is 28°C and the water temperature is 29°C.

What a nice place to take holidays !!!

Papa Mau crossed the 4000 Nm barrier

Thu, 27 Sep 2012 21:37:39 +0200

After the first part of September spent to cross the New Hebrides Trench, Papa Mau, the fastest Wave Glider of the Australian PacX team take a short-cut to arrive at Brisbane (Australia). During the 25th of September, the robot crossed the barrier of 4000 Nm (more than 7400 km) since the departure from Hawaii on 22nd of May. It happens close to Nouméa (New Caledonia) at 200 km.

The traveled distance has been computed by using GPS data recorded of the one hour sampling of Power dataset from the Slab database of Liquid Robotics. (http://slab.liquidr.com/fetch/)

Papa Mau crossed the deep New Hebrides Trench

Sun, 16 Sep 2012 19:39:59 +0200

Papa Mau one Wave Glider of the PacX Challenge crossed the deep New Hebrides Trench during the 14th September on the road to Australia. After accoutering strong reverse current and taking a western route, the robot jump at 200 Nm from Nouméa (New Caledonia) the 7,000 meters deep abyss (23,000 ft) during the night. The water temperature decreased to 22°C (71°F) and the air temperature to 20°C (68°F).

During this night, the robot crossed also the distance of 7,000 km (3,780 Nm) traveled from Hawaii Big Island (Kawaihae Harbor) since the 22nd May 2012. The robot has more than 2,000 km by the South route to Join Brisbane in Australia.

The following picture shows the route of Papa Mau on both Google Map and a Isobath of the New Hebrides Trench area from the 6th September to the 16th September.

Wave Glider G2 and Isaac Tropical Storm

Wed, 12 Sep 2012 23:41:15 +0200

As reporting on http://liquidr.com/press/press-releases/hurricane-isaac/, another Wave Glider was on the path of the Hurricane Isaac last August 28. The following picture represents the estimated trajectory of the Wave Glider G2 near the Timbalier Bay on 28 Aug 2012 18:00 GMT (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/22/Isaac_Aug_28_2012_1630Z.jpg). The center of the hurricane is located at 28.4° North latitude and 88.7° West longitude. A maximum of wind speed has been recorded at 74 knots (137 km/h).

Papa Mau stops at 250 Nm from Nouméa

Sun, 09 Sep 2012 13:55:06 +0200

After 3 days of cloudy weather last week and all scientific sensors’ switched off, the Wave Glider Papa Mau of the PacX Challenge’s Australian Team has refilled the batteries and run at 1.5 knots since Friday, 7th of September.

But in the last two days, it covers only 10 Nm at the low speed of 0.1-0.3 knots, even if the weather is sunny and surface currents are slow. Here is the route of Papa Mau on the satellite image near New Caledonia. The weather data of the nearest station (Loyalty Islands) are:

Air Pressure: 1017 mBar,
Air Temperature: 22°C (71°F),
Water Temperature: 23°C (74°F),
Humidity: 71%,
Significant Wave Height: 0.6 m,

Here are the unfiltered surface currents computed by OSCAR (NOAA). The animated picture shows the route of Papa Mau from 30 August to 9 September in a slow surface current at the level of the glider speed during the last hours. Is that meaning rudder or fins don’t work properly ? Float and Umbilical current are nominal and payload current seems a little bit higher than last month.

Benjamin Wave Glider near Manra Island

Tue, 28 Aug 2012 21:42:35 +0200

During the long way between Hawaii and Australia, the second Wave Glider Benjamin has slowed when crossing equator. Now, he is taking time along the meridian 170°W and will arrive at the Weather Station floating at 5°S. This buoy is close to a 440 hectares atoll Manra and 390 hectares atoll Orona of the Phoenix Islands. Benjamin is at less than 33 Nm and should arrived to the Weather Station near 2012-08-29T22:31:20Z.

Weather conditions are good with Air Temperature 28°C and Water Temperature 29°C.

Papa Mau at 200 Nm from Fiji Island

Mon, 27 Aug 2012 18:50:13 +0200

After swimming in a 30°C (86°F) sea water temperature during 44 days, the Wave Glider Papa Mau of the PacX Challenge Australian Team has left the very large Phytoplankton Bloom on 3rd of August (around 1500 Nm traveled inside at the mean speed of 34 Nm / day).

Now, the robot is running to Brisbane by passing more South of New Caledonia before arriving to Brisbane harbor. He is actually crossing Fiji Island at 200 Nm and has to travel more than 1400 Nm before finishing the Pacific crossing.

A Wave Glider near 'Isaac' Hurricane

Fri, 24 Aug 2012 18:00:00 +0200

The Wave Glider of Liquid Robotics having the ‘old brain’ of PacX Challenge’s Fontaine Maru glider is performing comparison measurements near the Weather Buoy 41043 (South Western Atlantic) located NNE from Puerto Rico Island since 2012-08-12.

The Isaac Tropical Storm passing south of Puerto Rico is close to the Wave Glider (less than 400 Nm) before going to West. (based on http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/goes/east/carb/rb-animated.gif)