PINGERS FOR GOVERNMENT AND MARINE INDUSTRY

News Release JW Fishers Manufacturing Inc. April 27, 2012

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<DIV> Government agencies and marine service
companies are finding a variety of uses for acoustic pingers and pinger
receivers. Pingers are signaling devices that can be attached to an underwater
site or instrument package. Using the pinger receiver, a gun-like
instrument carried by the diver, the sonar signal  transmitted by the
pinger can easily be detected and followed to its source.    
One company employing this technology is Ocean Power Technologies (OPT) in New Jersey. As part of a contract with the
US Navy, OPT has developed an autonomous
buoy that generates power from waves and stores it internally. The stored
electricity powers sensors and other equipment mounted on the buoy. Typical
payloads are detection systems to scan areas for intruders, communications
relays, environmental monitoring instruments, and oceanographic observation
platforms. The impact of severe weather on the buoy is not a concern; in initial
testing it rode over 50 foot waves generated by a passing hurricane with ease.
However to ensure the equipment can be recovered in the event of a catastrophe,
such as collision with a passing ship, the buoy is equipped with JW Fishers
SFP-1 single frequency pinger.      Law enforcement and
military diving units also utilize pingers and pinger receivers. They attach the
acoustic signaling devices to an underwater crime scene or evidence, submerged
vehicles or sunken vessels, monitoring instruments, mines and underwater
explosives. Pingers allow the group deploying these devices to keep track of all
their locations. If an enemy’s device is discovered, the diver can drop a pinger
to mark its location. Using multifrequency pingers, like Fishers MFP-1, allows
multiple pingers to be deployed in the same general area. A diver equipped with
the pinger receiver can easily pinpoint all the individual pingers, as every one
transmits a difference frequency.    The Naval Underwater Warfare Center (NUWC) in is one of many military
organizations adapting pingers to their special applications. The Newport, Rhode Island facility originated 142 years ago as the
Naval Torpedo Station. Part of their mission is to develop and test “submarine
warfare systems and other systems associated with the undersea battlespace”. To
ensure all devices undergoing open water testing are recoverable, they are
equipped with a pinger. Another of the Navy’s applications is for use on
autonomous underwater vehicles that perform deep water search and survey
operations. JW Fishers customized their SFP-1 pingers to meet the Navy’s special
requirements. Researcher Ben Potter comments, “We’ve attached one of the SFP-1
units to our REMUS AUV. Fishers willingness to accommodate the needs of our
program has been outstanding.”    ASL Environmental Sciences in
British Columbia Canada provides a full range of marine services including
project design, planning, consulting, instrument deployment and recovery. In
addition, they also have a substantial lease pool of oceanographic equipment and
a variety of bottom frames to attach instrumentation. To keep track of the
instruments, they attach an SFP-1 pinger. When the time comes for recovery, if
the equipment is not in the location where it was deployed, ASL can easily find
it by detecting the sonar signal being emitted from the pinger. Many receivers,
like Fishers PR-1, have a hydrophone attachment that can be deployed from the
boat, making recovery time significantly faster.    Albatross
Marine Technologies in Baleares, Spain is a manufacturer of marine
instrumentation. Their product line includes drifting buoys that track and
monitor coastal currents. The company uses the MFP-1 pinger to aid in relocation
should one go missing. Albatross’s Daniel Roig Broman reports using a signaling
device makes finding the buoys a much easier task, adding “this pinger works
well for us.”    For more information on Fishers pingers or any of
their underwater search systems go to <A
href="redir.aspx?C=a8d03f60574748bf84eadca972df65c2&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.jwfishers.com"
target=_blank>www.jwfishers.com</A>. </DIV></BODY></HTML>