12th annual conference brings together Kongsberg Maritime multibeam echo sounder users.
Kongsberg Maritime, the world's leading supplier of multibeam hydrographic survey equipment, reports FEMME 2009, this year's biennial conference dedicated to multibeam technology has proven a huge success.
The event, which took place in Lisbon, Portugal, 21st – 24th April attracted dignitaries such as Dr. João Mira Gomes, the Secretary of Defence and Sea Affairs, Portuguese Government and Admiral José Augusto Brito, Director of the Portuguese Hydrographic Institute, amongst a record 210 delegates from customers worldwide.
Best conference so far
"The purpose of FEMME is that clients can exchange ideas and user experiences. It is an important event for us to get closer to our customers and get useful feedback from them. In addition to a record number of participants this year, the papers held a particularly high standard. I would say that FEMME 2009 was our best user conference so far," says Helge Uhlen, Product Sales Manager Hydrography, Kongsberg Maritime.
In addition to Kongsberg Maritime product and technology focused presentations and discussions, which covered the entire EM multibeam range, sub bottom profilers and the introduction of new hardware and software solutions, the two day user portion of FEMME 2009 featured 29 user papers. Subjects were varied and included a review of the US Navy's T-AGS program, a focus on Deep Sea and a paper on the Mapping of Arctic sea ice topography, to name but a few.
Openness and information exchange
The lively and varied FEMME 2009 conference programme led to an atmosphere of openness and information exchange, which according to feedback received by Kongsberg Maritime made for a positive experience for those in attendance.
KONGSBERG listens to our experience
"The Canadian Hydrographic Service has been a user of multibeams since the 1980s. Since we know these products well, it is important for us to attend the conference and interact with other users. FEMME is an important event because it enables discussions and Kongsberg Maritime listens to our experiences," said Michael Lamplugh, Senior Hydrographer, Canadian Hydrographic Service.
Xavier Lurton of IFREMER, the French Research Institute for Exploitation of the Sea, added: "All the expertise from Kongsberg Maritime is here so we can interact and get new information. It is also a good place to meet other clients. You can talk frankly and Kongsberg Maritime's representatives really listen to what you say. The technical and scientific level at this year's conference was very good, perhaps the best so far with interesting papers and a well balanced programme."