Barry Electronics develops unique shipping control interface with help of NWRC and InterTradeIreland
By Aoife Curran
Killybegs-based marine- electronics company Barry Electronics has developed an intelligent and user-friendly control interface for use on board ships/vessels that will allow crew members on the bridge to quickly and easily access and control monitors with the use of a single trackball mouse. This was made possible by support from North West Regional College’s (NWRC) Business Support Centre (BSC) and InterTradeIreland’s Innovation Boost programme.
The cross-border collaboration project between Barry Electronics, InterTradeIreland Innovation Boost graduate, Eamonn McAteer, and NWRC Electronic Engineering Technical Consultant, Cathal Ferry, saw the development of an intelligent and user-friendly control interface for use on ships and vessels.
Dr Fergal Tuffy, Technology Innovation Manager at the NWRC’s Business Support Centre said: ‘’The Fusion project has been a great success for all parties involved. When we first spoke to John and the team at Barry Electronics and heard of their ambitious plans we engaged with Niall O’Somachain, one of InterTradeIreland’s Innovation Boost advisors, who covers the North West of Ireland and we got the go ahead to begin an application for the Innovation Boost programme.
‘’After assisting Barry Electronics to write a successful Fusion project application, we recruited a high-calibre graduate to join the Barry Electronics team and deliver the project with the support of NWRC Technical Consultant, Cathal Ferry. Now 18 months later, the project has been completed and the business has gained a competitive advantage by developing new control systems that will generate additional sales and allow them to continue to grow their business. For us in the NWRC it is great for us to link up with SMEs to put our academic knowledge and skills to use on real world industry projects and be able to take this knowledge back into the classroom, thus enhancing the research and teaching that we are doing. It has been great to see the success of this project and the continued growth of Barry Electronics and we wish them well for the future.”
John Cormack, Barry Electronics Project Supervisor, added: ‘’Through the InterTradeIreland Fusion programme and with the support of North West Regional College, Barry Electronics has significantly increased its product offering to the market by reducing the amount of user interfaces required to operate the system and control any of the ships computer based systems using a trackball. We’re also able to sell the solution to existing and new customers.’’
For more information about Barry Electronics visit https://barryelectronics.ie/ and for further details on how the BSC can help your business email businesssupport@nwrc.ac.uk or to find out more about the Innovation Boost programme see https://intertradeireland.com/innovation/innovation-boost
