www.seadiscovery.com Marine Technology Reporter 51
Teledyne RD Instruments
E-mail: mnewcombe@adelphia.net
9855 Businesspark Avenue, San Diego, CA 92131
Tel: 858-693-1178; Fax: 858-695-1459
E-mail: glopez@teledyne.com
CEO: Robert Mehrabian
General Manager: William Kikendall
Vice President: Harold Maxfield
Business Unit Sales Managers:
Navigation Products - Graham Lester
Marine Measurements Products - Darryl Symonds
Water Resources Products - Earl Childress
Number of Employees: 200 (Teledyne RDI only)
Annual Sales: $38 million
Company Profile
Teledyne RD Instruments, Inc., located in San Diego, CA,
specializes in the design and manufacture of underwater
acoustic Doppler products for a wide array of current profil-
ing and precision navigation applications. Originally found-
ed as RD Instruments, the company was formed in 1982 by
Fran Rowe and Kent Deines as a result of their develop-
ment of the industry's first Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler
(ADCP), a device capable of profiling currents at up to 128
individual points in the water column.
Through the years, RD Instruments experienced steady
growth and has remained the leader in acoustic Doppler
instrumentation. In August 2005, RD Instruments was pur-
chased by Teledyne Technologies, and now operates as a
wholly owned indirect subsidiary of Teledyne Technologies,
Inc. Upon acquisition, the company's name was changed to
Teledyne RD Instruments.
The company currently employs over 200 multi-disci-
plined scientists, engineers, technicians, sales, and support
personnel; and resides in a 30,000 square foot ISO-
9001:2000 facility that includes state-of-the art engineering,
laboratory, manufacturing, and test areas.
Teledyne RDI is comprised of three distinct business
units:
• Marine Measurements: ADCP and Waves products for
estuaries to full ocean depth applications Navigation
Business Unit: Doppler Velocity Logs and diver technology
Water Resources: Flow and discharge measurement
tools for rivers, streams and man-made channels
As Teledyne RDI has grown, so has its customers' need
for global service and support. Recognizing this need,
Teledyne RDI opened and maintains offices in Europe and
China; and trained industry representatives from around
the globe to provide local sales and service.
Technology Profile
With more than 10,000 Acoustic Doppler Current Profilers
delivered worldwide, Teledyne RDI's Workhorse ADCP
products have become the de-facto standard instrument
used worldwide by scientists and field engineers to improve
their understanding of water current circulation. Only
Teledyne RDI's proven ADCP products can provide: patent-
ed BroadBand processing for significantly improved data
quality, power efficiency and error detection; a patented two
(2) dimensional phased array transducer design for signifi-
cantly reduced size, weight, and deployment complexity;
and a unique four-beam configuration to ensure data quali-
ty and reliability.
Teledyne RDI's ADCPs have become synonymous with
high quality data, ease of operation, and unsurpassed
value. Teledyne RDI's newest current profiler is the Doppler
Volume Sampler (DVS) designed for the National
Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) /
Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (PMEL). The new
DVS represents an exponential improvement in perform-
ance and cost efficiency compared to traditional single
point current measurement devices.
Acoustic Doppler Velocity Logs: Teledyne RDI has also
applied their leading edge ADCP technology to a line of
Doppler Velocity Logs (DVLs) and diver navigation prod-
ucts. The highly acclaimed Workhorse Navigator DVL pro-
vides high rate, high precision velocity and altitude updates
for a wide array of applications spanning the military, com-
mercial and scientific markets.Teledyne RDI's standard and
specially engineered DVLs are currently aiding in the navi-
gation of hundreds of Autonomous Underwater Vehicles
(AUVs), Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs), and other
manned and unmanned submersibles around the globe.
The new Explorer DVL represents Teledyne RDI's latest
navigation advancement. The compact Explorer has been
designed to provide Workhorse precision in a package that
meets the stringent size, weight and power constraints of
the next generation of small, littoral vehicles.
Thales Geosolutions 75 kHz RDI WH ADCP in Flotec Buoy.
IOS WH-LR on the fantail A-frame Healy.
MTR#5 (49-64).qxd 6/16/2006 1:07 PM Page 51
Digital Wave Publishing