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products Kongsberg Seatex's 'eBird' Seismic Streamer Control System has been nominated for the presti- gious Honors Award for Deisgn Excellence by the Norwegian Design Council (NDC). Kongsberg Seatex, Kongsberg Maritime's specialist in position reference systems, and attitude determination, is one of four companies to be nominated.With oil & gas exploration taking place in increasingly demanding environments, the offshore industry depends on new technology to overcome the challenges caused by working further from shore and in deeper waters. Kongsberg Seatex's eBird is one such piece of tech- nology. It is a novel bird concept for lateral, vertical and roll streamer control in marine seismic acquisi- tion that enables fault tolerant and efficient multi streamer steering by employing a wide range of inno- vative and patented technological solutions. According to R&D Manager at Kongsberg Seatex, Arne Rinnan, the starting point for eBird was an idea from Kongsberg Seatex almost 20 years old: "Some ideas take longer to mature than others. Even though the idea has existed for a long time, it was not until we had a competitive concept that we took the first steps towards the product development of eBird." In short-listing eBird for the design award, the NDC panel of judges recognizes the overall design and operational value of this unique system. A num- ber of details also highlight eBird as an innovative design, including the titanium body for maximum tensile strength as well as extraordinary corrosion resistance. The smart design and construction ensures very low acoustic noise, and can be adapted to all types of streamer cables, whilst the innovative implementation utilizing connector-less power and signal transfer between body and wings makes eBird robust for all operational conditions. eBird was launched at the Society of Exploration Geophysicists (SEG) annual meeting in Houston in October 2009. www.kongsberg.com ‘Diving Bird’ Tech Tapped for Award 56 MTR April 2011
