The push for renewable energy has brought offshore wind power to the forefront of many an energy companys agenda, and that means taking a very close look at the ocean floor where the installations are to go. Fortunately Bedrock is here to drag that mapping process into the 21st century with its autonomous underwater vehicle and modern cloud-based data service.
The company aims to replace the standard big ship with a big sonar approach with a faster, smarter, more modern service, letting companies spin up regular super-accurate seafloor imagery as easily as they might spin up a few servers to host their website.
We believe were the first cloud-native platform for seafloor data, said Anthony DiMare, CEO and co-founder (with CTO Charlie Chiau) of Bedrock. This is a big data problem how would you design the systems to support that solution? We make it a modern data service, instead of like a huge marine operation youre not tied to this massive piece of infrastructure floating in the water. Everything from the way we move sonars around the ocean to the way we deliver the data to engineers has been rethought.
The product Bedrock provides customers is high-resolution maps of the seafloor, made available via Mosaic, a familiar web service that does all the analysis and hosting for you a big step forward for an industry where data migration still means shipping a box of hard drives.
Normally, DiMare explained, this data was collected, processed and stored on the ships themselves. Since they were designed to do everything from harbor inspections to deep sea surveys, they couldnt count on having a decent internet connection, and the data is useless in its raw form. Like any other bulky data, it needs to be visualized and put in context.
Image Credits: Bedrock
These data sets are extremely large, tens of terabytes in size, said DiMare. Typical cloud systems arent the best way to manage 20,000 sonar files.
The current market is more focused on detailed, near-shore data than the deep sea, since theres a crush to take part in the growing wind energy market. This means that data is collected much closer to ordinary internet infrastructure and can be handed off for cloud-based processing and storage more easily than before. That in turn means the data can be processed and provided faster, just in time for demand to take off.
As DiMare explained, while there may have been a seafloor survey done in the last couple decades of a potential installation site, thats only the first step. An initial mapping pass might have to be made to confirm the years-old maps and add detail, then another for permitting, for environmental assessments, engineering, construction and regular inspections. If this could be done with a turnkey automated process that produced even better results than crewed ships for less money, its a huge win for customers relying on old methods. And if the industry grows as expected to require more active monitoring of the seafloor along every U.S. coast, its a win for Bedrock as well, naturally.
Image Credits: Bedrock
To make this all happen, of course, you need a craft that can collect the data in the first place. The AUV is a piece of technology we built solely to enable a data product, said DiMare, but noted that, originally, we didnt want to do this.
We started to spec out what it looked like to use an off the shelf system, he explained. But if you want to build a hyper-scalable, very efficient system to get the best cost per square meter, you need a very specific set of features, certain sonars, the compute stack by the time we listed all those we basically had a self-designed system. Its faster, its more operationally flexible, you get better data quality, and you can do it more reliably.
And amazingly, it doesnt even need a boat you can grab it from the back of a van and launch it from a pier or beach.
From the very beginning one of the restrictions we put on ourselves was no boats. And we need to be able to fly with this thing. That totally changed our approach, said DiMare.
Image Credits: Bedrock
The AUV packs a lot into a small package, and while the sensor loadout is variable depending on the job, one aspect that defines the craft is its high-frequency sonar.
Sonars operate in a wide range of frequencies, from the hundreds to the hundreds of thousands of hertz. Unfortunately that means that ocean-dwelling creatures, many of which can hear in that range, are inundated with background noise, sometimes to the point where its harmful or deters them from entering an area. Sonar operating about 200 kHz is safe for animals, but the high frequency means the signal attenuates more quickly, reducing the range to 50-75 meters.
Thats obviously worthless for a ship floating on the surface much of what it needs to map is more than 75 meters deep. But if you could make a craft that always stayed within 50 meters of the seabed, its full of benefits. And thats exactly what Bedrocks AUV is designed to do.
The increased frequency of the sonar also means increased detail, so the picture its instruments paint is better than what youd get with a larger wave. And because its safe to use around animals, you can skip the (very necessary but time-consuming) red tape at wildlife authorities. Better, faster, cheaper and safer is a hell of a pitch.
Today marks the official launch of Mosaic, and to promote adoption Bedrock is offering 50 gigs of free storage of any kind of compatible map data, since the platform is format-agnostic.
Theres a ton of data out there thats technically public but is nevertheless very difficult to find and use. It may be a low-detail survey from two decades ago, or a hyper-specific scan of an area investigated by a research group, but if it were all in one place it would probably be a lot more useful, DiMare said.
Ultimately we want to get where we can do the whole ocean on a yearly basis, he concluded. So weve got a lot of work to do.
See original here:
Bedrock modernizes seafloor mapping with autonomous sub and cloud-based data - TechCrunch
- Box for Android - Video [Last Updated On: February 26th, 2012] [Originally Added On: February 26th, 2012]
- eUKhost - eNlight Cloud Hosting! - Video [Last Updated On: February 26th, 2012] [Originally Added On: February 26th, 2012]
- Cloud Computing -- Oracle is Ready to Take You There - Video [Last Updated On: February 26th, 2012] [Originally Added On: February 26th, 2012]
- What is Cloud Computing? - Video [Last Updated On: February 26th, 2012] [Originally Added On: February 26th, 2012]
- Webinar - Cloud Computing: Why You Should Care - 2010-10-14 - Video [Last Updated On: February 26th, 2012] [Originally Added On: February 26th, 2012]
- What is Cloud Hosting? - Video [Last Updated On: February 26th, 2012] [Originally Added On: February 26th, 2012]
- Cloud Computing Misconceptions and Benefits - Video [Last Updated On: February 26th, 2012] [Originally Added On: February 26th, 2012]
- Cloud Hosting and How it is Set to Change Internet Commerce - Video [Last Updated On: February 26th, 2012] [Originally Added On: February 26th, 2012]
- Awesome Cloud Computing Explained with Animation - Video [Last Updated On: February 26th, 2012] [Originally Added On: February 26th, 2012]
- Rackspace Cloud Race - UK cloud hosting - Video [Last Updated On: February 26th, 2012] [Originally Added On: February 26th, 2012]
- Improved Cloud Service Delivery And Hosting | IBM - Video [Last Updated On: February 26th, 2012] [Originally Added On: February 26th, 2012]
- Cloud Computing Explained - Video [Last Updated On: February 26th, 2012] [Originally Added On: February 26th, 2012]
- Software companies turn to Savvis for cloud hosting and other SaaS services - Video [Last Updated On: February 26th, 2012] [Originally Added On: February 26th, 2012]
- Sky News Tech Report on Cloud Computing - Macquarie Telecom Interview - Video [Last Updated On: February 26th, 2012] [Originally Added On: February 26th, 2012]
- BitNami Cloud Hosting Demo - Video [Last Updated On: February 26th, 2012] [Originally Added On: February 26th, 2012]
- Fully managed Cloud Computing solution using your current IT infrastructure (Closed Caption) - Video [Last Updated On: February 26th, 2012] [Originally Added On: February 26th, 2012]
- Cloud Hosting Server Provisioning - Video [Last Updated On: February 26th, 2012] [Originally Added On: February 26th, 2012]
- iomart Hosting Provides Cloud Storage and Backup for new Branding Network [Last Updated On: February 28th, 2012] [Originally Added On: February 28th, 2012]
- Harris plans to stop offering remote cloud hosting [Last Updated On: February 28th, 2012] [Originally Added On: February 28th, 2012]
- iomart Hosting provides cloud storage and backup for new UK branding network [Last Updated On: February 28th, 2012] [Originally Added On: February 28th, 2012]
- DynamicOps Debuts "Fastest Path to Cloud" Seminar and Webinar [Last Updated On: February 28th, 2012] [Originally Added On: February 28th, 2012]
- Harris Corporation to Discontinue Cyber Hosting Operation; Will Continue Providing Advanced Cyber Security and Cloud ... [Last Updated On: February 28th, 2012] [Originally Added On: February 28th, 2012]
- Tutorial! Amazon Cloud Minecraft Server Hosting! - Video [Last Updated On: February 28th, 2012] [Originally Added On: February 28th, 2012]
- MachPanel 4.3 - SaaS and Cloud Hosting Control Panel for Windows - Video [Last Updated On: February 28th, 2012] [Originally Added On: February 28th, 2012]
- Webair Carrier Neutral Cloud: Open Network Access in the Cloud [Last Updated On: February 28th, 2012] [Originally Added On: February 28th, 2012]
- iomart Hosting Takes UK Digital Media Agency Into the Cloud [Last Updated On: February 28th, 2012] [Originally Added On: February 28th, 2012]
- FireHost Grows Executive Team on Heels of European Expansion; Appoints Jim Ciampaglio as Sr. Vice President of Global ... [Last Updated On: February 28th, 2012] [Originally Added On: February 28th, 2012]
- INetU Managed Hosting is SOC 2 and SOC 3 Compliant [Last Updated On: February 29th, 2012] [Originally Added On: February 29th, 2012]
- Web Host Webair Adds Carrier Neutral Cloud Services [Last Updated On: February 29th, 2012] [Originally Added On: February 29th, 2012]
- FireHost Appoints Jim Ciampaglio as Sr. Vice President of Global Sales and Marketing [Last Updated On: February 29th, 2012] [Originally Added On: February 29th, 2012]
- BitRock CEO on BitNami Cloud Hosting - Video [Last Updated On: February 29th, 2012] [Originally Added On: February 29th, 2012]
- Harris kills remote hosting service as customers shun cloud storage [Last Updated On: February 29th, 2012] [Originally Added On: February 29th, 2012]
- Understand Cloud computing in 60secs - Video [Last Updated On: February 29th, 2012] [Originally Added On: February 29th, 2012]
- Systech Integrators® Forms Strategic Relationship With Rackspace Hosting® to Offer Cloud Hosting Services for SAP® ... [Last Updated On: March 1st, 2012] [Originally Added On: March 1st, 2012]
- Dedicated & Cloud Hosting Provider Codero Names Industry Veteran Emil Sayegh, President & CEO [Last Updated On: March 1st, 2012] [Originally Added On: March 1st, 2012]
- Cloud Computing and Technology Mobility - Video [Last Updated On: March 1st, 2012] [Originally Added On: March 1st, 2012]
- Cloud Hosting Providers - Video [Last Updated On: March 3rd, 2012] [Originally Added On: March 3rd, 2012]
- Online Education Innovator Gives Virtual Internet Cloud Services an A+ [Last Updated On: March 3rd, 2012] [Originally Added On: March 3rd, 2012]
- SingleHop Introduces the Hosting Industry's First Customer Bill of Rights [Last Updated On: March 6th, 2012] [Originally Added On: March 6th, 2012]
- Cloud Services Provider Intermedia Launches Integrated Partner Program [Last Updated On: March 7th, 2012] [Originally Added On: March 7th, 2012]
- Cloud Services Provider Intermedia Now Offering Microsoft Office 365 [Last Updated On: March 7th, 2012] [Originally Added On: March 7th, 2012]
- Inside IT Cloud Computing Security - Video [Last Updated On: March 7th, 2012] [Originally Added On: March 7th, 2012]
- Lansing Cloud Host Introduces Faster ‘Storm SSD’ [Last Updated On: March 7th, 2012] [Originally Added On: March 7th, 2012]
- Leading Industry Analyst Firm positions Hosting.com as a Challenger in Managed Hosting Magic Quadrant [Last Updated On: March 8th, 2012] [Originally Added On: March 8th, 2012]
- Hosting.com Positioned as Challenger in Managed Hosting in Gartner's Magic Quadrant [Last Updated On: March 8th, 2012] [Originally Added On: March 8th, 2012]
- ServInt Announces the First Finalist for Its Inaugural Sextant Award, Recognizing the Most Effective Use of the ... [Last Updated On: March 8th, 2012] [Originally Added On: March 8th, 2012]
- Leading Analyst Firm Recognizes Savvis as a Leader in Two Cloud-Focused Magic Quadrants [Last Updated On: March 8th, 2012] [Originally Added On: March 8th, 2012]
- UK Cloud Computing Company iomart Hosting Recruits Scotland Footballers to Kick off New Campaign [Last Updated On: March 9th, 2012] [Originally Added On: March 9th, 2012]
- Rackspace Hosting Positioned as a Leader in the Leaders Quadrant of the Magic Quadrant for Managed Hosting Providers [Last Updated On: March 9th, 2012] [Originally Added On: March 9th, 2012]
- 4t Networks Offers Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 for Cloud Hosting [Last Updated On: March 9th, 2012] [Originally Added On: March 9th, 2012]
- elchemyv2.wmv - Video [Last Updated On: March 9th, 2012] [Originally Added On: March 9th, 2012]
- Steve VanRoekel Keynote, NIST Cloud Computing Forum and Workshop IV - Video [Last Updated On: March 11th, 2012] [Originally Added On: March 11th, 2012]
- Hosting.com Enhances Backup Capabilities to Deliver Leading-Edge Data Recovery Solution for Businesses Any Size ... [Last Updated On: March 12th, 2012] [Originally Added On: March 12th, 2012]
- Online Tech Hosts Webinar on Cloud Computing in EHR/RCM Systems [Last Updated On: March 12th, 2012] [Originally Added On: March 12th, 2012]
- Hosting.com Enhances Backup & Data Recovery [Last Updated On: March 12th, 2012] [Originally Added On: March 12th, 2012]
- ServInt Introduces Its New Flex Line of High-Performance, Fully Managed Dedicated Servers [Last Updated On: March 14th, 2012] [Originally Added On: March 14th, 2012]
- Telefonica targets LatAm with business cloud [Last Updated On: March 14th, 2012] [Originally Added On: March 14th, 2012]
- TCWH Announces New InMotion Hosting Review 2012 [Last Updated On: March 14th, 2012] [Originally Added On: March 14th, 2012]
- Lokahi Expands Cloud Offering to Include Managed Security Services Through Partnership With StillSecure [Last Updated On: March 15th, 2012] [Originally Added On: March 15th, 2012]
- Eco Cloud Hosting IPv6 Ready with Web Application Firewall and Load Balancer - Video [Last Updated On: March 15th, 2012] [Originally Added On: March 15th, 2012]
- Private SharePoint Cloud Beats Other Cloud Hosting Options for Enterprises on Price, Practicality [Last Updated On: March 17th, 2012] [Originally Added On: March 17th, 2012]
- Private SharePoint Cloud Beats Other Cloud Hosting Options for Enterprises, Says AISN [Last Updated On: March 17th, 2012] [Originally Added On: March 17th, 2012]
- CaymanSecurity.com Introduces Secure Cloud Hosting Services [Last Updated On: March 19th, 2012] [Originally Added On: March 19th, 2012]
- Storm On Demand Introduces Windows Cloud Hosting [Last Updated On: March 20th, 2012] [Originally Added On: March 20th, 2012]
- Citrix Streamlines Delivery of Cloud-Hosted Apps and Desktops [Last Updated On: March 20th, 2012] [Originally Added On: March 20th, 2012]
- Cloud Computing Explained.mp4 - Video [Last Updated On: March 20th, 2012] [Originally Added On: March 20th, 2012]
- AMD Opteron 3200 Chips Target Cloud, Web Hosting [Last Updated On: March 20th, 2012] [Originally Added On: March 20th, 2012]
- Understanding the Cloud Computing Stack: SaaS, PaaS and IaaS | CloudU - Video [Last Updated On: March 21st, 2012] [Originally Added On: March 21st, 2012]
- Racemi Joins Rackspace Cloud Tools Program [Last Updated On: March 22nd, 2012] [Originally Added On: March 22nd, 2012]
- iNetRadio Adds User Music Cloud Hosting [Last Updated On: April 18th, 2012] [Originally Added On: April 18th, 2012]
- Managed Hosting Company, OneNeck IT Services, Selected by Southwest Home Builder for Cloud Services [Last Updated On: April 18th, 2012] [Originally Added On: April 18th, 2012]
- What is Cloud Hosting? - Australian Cloud Hosting Providers - Video [Last Updated On: April 18th, 2012] [Originally Added On: April 18th, 2012]
- Courion Leverages NaviSite's Enterprise Cloud to Deliver Identity and Access Management Software-as-a-Service [Last Updated On: April 24th, 2012] [Originally Added On: April 24th, 2012]
- TLD Solutions Launches Next Generation "4GH" Web Hosting [Last Updated On: May 4th, 2012] [Originally Added On: May 4th, 2012]
- ElasticHosts unveils simple cloud web hosting for SMEs [Last Updated On: May 4th, 2012] [Originally Added On: May 4th, 2012]
- Rackspace Hosting 1Q net income up on higher sales [Last Updated On: May 8th, 2012] [Originally Added On: May 8th, 2012]
- Infinitely Virtual Announces Support for Microsoft SQL Server 2012, Providing Cloud-Ready Hosting with Mission ... [Last Updated On: May 8th, 2012] [Originally Added On: May 8th, 2012]
- Kore Domains Launches Revolutionary New "4GH" Web Hosting Solution [Last Updated On: May 8th, 2012] [Originally Added On: May 8th, 2012]
- 4GH Web Hosting Europa Launches 4GH Cloud Web Hosting Solution in European Data Center [Last Updated On: May 10th, 2012] [Originally Added On: May 10th, 2012]
- Hughes Cloud Services & Hosting Showcases Its Comprehensive Enterprise IT Offering At ... [Last Updated On: May 12th, 2012] [Originally Added On: May 12th, 2012]