Ferralium® 255-SD50 is used to fabricate Sonardyne's P-DORT units for its excellent corrosion resistance in seawater combined with higher strength, allowing operation at greater depths and the carrying of heavier items.
Sonardyne are a leading developer and manufacturer of underwater acoustic, inertial, optical and sonar technology, used in marine applications to track and position objects.
The P-DORT (Programmable Deep Oceanographic Release Transponder) combines a heavy-duty acoustic release transponder with hardware that allows automatic release at depth. It has two basic modes of operation:
- Like a standard DORT, it responds to securely coded acoustic commands from the surface in the LF (9-13 kHz) frequency band.
- It can be pre-programmed before deployment to release automatically when it reaches a certain depth.
This allows heavy items, such as submarine cables, to be lowered precisely to the seabed and the lowering apparatus then recovered after an automatic release. The acoustic ranging function within the P-DORT can also relocate the equipment should the lowering cable fail.
