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AutoMATE Marine Systems, LLC was incorporated to resume production of its highly successful DIGIPILOT. AutoMATE products leverage 13 years and $6 million of pioneering development cost from the founders’ previous company on $41M sales of bridge automation systems on 550 ships that experienced 60 million hours of at sea automatic operation. Patent(s) on improved technology of sensors, algorithms and control solutions are included in the re-hosting of software for today’s faster marine computer/displays, add-on ARPAs and ECDIS.

Meet the Team: Bringing together experience, innovation and entrepreneurship to solve today’s economic and environmental shipping issues.

Get Green with AutoMATE Marine

AutoMATE Marine Systems is a ‘Win- Win GREEN Business Model”.  There is no need to wait for technology or a new fleet you can improve your ships for sustainable shipping practices and increase your profits now.

Our team believes in solving today’s problems today and mitigating impact of future climate change with technology that reduce fuel consumption and are easily integrated. AutoMATE Marine Systems is the solution to get in the GREEN.  Integrative products that impacts today’s shipping owners, increases profits with long term benefits for the planet. Reduce bunker fuel costs on shipping lines, less non-renewable fuel = lowers CO2 in the atmosphere and world oceans, with lasting benefits your company and the planet.

Our unique business model pays for itself. Be in the GREEN reap economic benefits for your business and lasting environmental benefits for the earth and future generations.

Mr. Herther founded Iotron Corporation, that pioneered “self plotting” radar and integrated Loran C & Transit Satellite radionavigation to achieve 100 m continuous accuracy for display of charts on radar PPI supertankers, providing better accuracy than GPS 20 yrs sooner.  AutoMATE Marine Systems is now exploiting over $6M of development and implementing in today’s lower cost digital technology.

Now that vessel fuel costs have risen from $13/barrel to $100/barrel for oil, a factor of 7, the fuel savings benefits have skyrocketed.  Also, the hardware costs to implement a system are reduced by almost a factor of 10.  These two factors provide a tremendous cost/benefit to customers now being mandated to fit new equipment for safer navigation using the newly IMO mandated worldwide e-Charts.

Background of the President/Chief Engineer

John C. (3- Axis Jack) Herther
Innovating business for a prosperous and sustainable future |  John C Herther Resume 2013 | USAF Space Pioneer

Air Force Pioneer– Jack designed the stabilization technology for the space satellites that captured the first images of Earth from Space, he now brings his pioneering spirit and expertise for innovation closer to home with new technology that benefits businesses economically and impacts the earth and the world’s oceans.  Aerospace historian Dwayne Day has called Jack Herther “one of the unsung pioneers of the early space age.” 

Founder and President of Iotron – a successful marine digital electronic company that pioneered:
1) Self plotting anti-collision radar (DIGIPLOT) on 550 ships at $75,000 each ($41M in sales) and
2) Added 2% fuel saving on 34 supertankers.

Using today’s technology Jack has developed an new business model that makes it easy to ‘Get Green‘.

Air Force Space Pioneer Award for CORONA Satellite program 3-axis stabilization. 

The CORONA Program occurred between 1959 and 1972 but the American public did not know about the project until 1995 when President Bill Clinton ordered the declassification of the imagery. Vice President Al Gore urged the declassification of the imagery in order to assist scientists in conducting various deforestation and other environmental studies.

CORONA went on to be Project Keyhole; Keyhole was acquired by Google in its early days, and we now all enjoy Google Earth, which had its start in the algorithm Jack Herther devised.
Published by  (AIAA), “Genesis of Three-Axis Spacecraft Guidance, Control, and On-Orbit Stabilization.”  More info

In 2003, inducted into the “Air Force Space and Missile Pioneer Hall of Fame” for contributions to the USAF reconnaissance satellite programs. As the Aerospace historian, Dwayne Day stated, Jack Herther was “one of the unsung pioneers of the early space age” and referred to as “3-Axis Jack”.

Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics Vol. 29, No. 6, November–December 2006
Genesis of Three-Axis Spacecraft Guidance, Control, and On-Orbit Stabilization
John C. (Jack) Herther, MITRE Corporation, Bedford, Massachusetts 01730.

Education

• Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) -MS Aeronautical Electrical Engineering

• North Carolina State University-BS Mechanical Engineering

Interests

• Sailing, Cape Cod, Technology

Frona Vicksell Collaborating Navigation Software Consultant

Frona has decades of extensive experience in real-time navigation programs, starting when she coded parts of the radar-based SAGE system at MIT’s Lincoln Lab. At Iotron, she coded the fix algorithm for the Transit SatNav receiver in the DIGINAV system, then used the results to pioneer in hybrid navigation–the infrequent satellite fixes were used to determine in real-time the geographically and seasonally varying offsets in Loran and Decca fixes.

 

Also at Iotron, she led the development of the data link between the DIGINAV and DIGIPLOT computers, the addition of the DIGIPILOT autopilot, and the creation of shore-based systems for the high-traffic Rotterdam and Shanghai harbors.Later, at Megapulse she worked on a survey quality Loran receiver, then devised and implemented the special transmitter timing controls needed for the French Loran chain. She researched the anticipated nationwide performance of weighted least square fixes from combined Loran and GPS pseudo ranges.

 

Still later at Northstar, she made major contributions to the development of Northstar avionics receivers and complex marine navigation systems.

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