Global Satellite USA, a satellite communications' company specifically for the offshore industry, offer POLARIS, a new position-reporting device for monitoring and surveillance over Iridium.

The POLARIS is lightweight, flexible, waterproof and extremely easy to use, and is ideal for tracking personnel, moving assets or tankers. GPS coordinates are transmitted via satellite to your PC on a timed basis, from every 20 seconds to every 24 hours. The interval between transmissions can be changed remotely and if there is a problem, there is an alert button that activates immediately. Geo-fencing can be enabled to raise an alert should the device leave a pre-defined region.  

CEO, Martin Fierstone, comments, “The low transmission cost, rapid deployment and economic price means that even for small equipment that wouldn’t normally consider this high level type of tracking, POLARIS provides a very attractive solution”.

The POLARIS is a self-contained, battery-powered, lightweight, tracking device capable of reporting a ship or personnel position, speed and course at pre-determined intervals, and is programmable remotely. The device works on battery power alone or on external power. It is capable of sending over 4,000 position reports on one battery charge, the equivalent of every half-hour for 80 days at sea or almost 14 days at 5-minute intervals. What makes this device stand apart is that it combines the best capabilities of other reporting systems all in one unit.

  Trident Sensors’ tracking devices have been used on many well known ocean races and yachts, including Dame Ellen MacArthur's record-breaking trimaran B&Q. The precursor to POLARIS, the OCTrackers, were developed for Offshore Challenges to be used by the RORC [Royal Ocean Racing Club] to track the fleets in the Round Britain and Ireland Race 2006 and the 2007 Rolex Fastnet Race. The online data management system ran independently using a variety of software programs, allowing stand-alone management by race organizers.