Emirates Team New Zealand
Piloting merchant ships and elite yacht racing may seem like different worlds, but reliability and precision is equally vital in both. So, in fact, is weight, as pilots often carry all their equipment when they climb on board a ship. So when Navicom Dynamics were commissioned by Emirates Team New Zealand to create the perfect system for their America’s Cup campaign in Valencia, we were already more than halfway there.
The Black Boat solution demanded the most lightweight and aerodynamic antennas available. Saving just grams of weight could be critical to finding that vital speed edge. Just as important was complete reliability - and no-one can be in any doubt that NZL92’s afterguard knew exactly where they were every second of every race.
Positioning and heading solutions were designed for NZL92 and NZL84, and our GPS systems were on board all of the boats in the Luis Vuitton and America’s Cup races (as well as buoys and weather tenders) to provide positioning data for the highly-regarded ‘Virtual Eye’ television graphic coverage.
Emirates Team New Zealand qualified for the Louis Vuitton finals against Luna Rossa, who they defeated with a whitewash victory of 5-0, winning the Louis Vuitton Cup and the right to challenge Alinghi for the America's Cup. Alinghi went on to successfully defend The America Cup.
Taharoa Destiny - Virtual AIS
38.1508° S, 174.7337º E
The Taharoa Destiny is a 294 metre iron-sands export ship based south of Kawhia, on New Zealand's rugged west coast. Approximately 1.2 million tonnes of iron-sand is loaded as slurry through a marine pipeline to the ship, for export to China annually.
New Zealand Steel approached Navicom Dynamics for assistance as there are very few navigational aids in the area.
Navicom supplied a virtual AIS beacon which transmits virtual signals on the AIS frequency to show targets in the water, which can be used as navigational aids.
Cape Preston - Virtual AIS
20°51'00.0" S, 116°12'00.0" E
Cape Preston is an export port for high quality magnetite, located on rocky headland in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.
Shallow waters in the area mean large ships have to enter an anchorage site offshore and barges then have to transport magnetite out to the OGVs.
The passage to the anchorage area is a very narrow and rocky hazardous area miking it difficult to lay permanent navigational aids.
As with the Taharoa Destiny, Navicom Dynamics supplied a virtual AIS beacon which transmits signals on the AIS frequency to show targets in the water, which can be used as navigational aids.
Precision Farming
Navicom Dynamics has developed specialist GPS technology for the New Zealand argiculutural industry which allows farmers to control flow rates of fertiliser, making application easier, quicker and accurate.
To find out more about our land based precision GPS positioning solutions contact us.