Devices tracking derelict boats as Barnacle Systems also aims to bring boaters peace of mind
As an engineer freshly out of university, Brandon Wright soon found himself making regular trips to the Middle East to develop remote monitoring equipment for the C.I.A. and the U.S. Air Force.
In that technological gap, the engineer saw an untapped opportunity and over the past seven years has grown his boat-monitoring company, Barnacle Systems, into an operation with global reach, but also one that’s helping protect aquatic ecosystems and inform the next generation of naval ships here at home.
To avoid crews having to physically watch a derelict freighter to make sure it didn’t float down the Fraser River over the Christmas holiday, the coast guard needed something that could remotely monitor the vessel, which had 7,000 litres of fuel and oil onboard. That impact all began with Wright starting the endeavour out of his mudroom as he designed circuit boards and laid the foundations for their app. He then worked in a Victoria tech incubator’s lobby before getting a grant that allowed him to bring on a software developer to finish the app’s first version.
The navy wants that data from its older boats to inform the shift to an upgraded fleet, so the onboard BRNKL tracks all kinds of performance information, Wright said. That data, for example, can show the government how the ship’s greenhouse gas emissions would fall if it used certain fuel additives or how different hull coatings would reduce drag.
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