The company, Physics, Materials & Applied Mathematics Research LLC from Tucson, Ariz., will use the Kona facility mainly to develop and test remotely-operated vehicles (ROVs) for use in land, sea and air environments.

The ROVs are designed to carry sensor packages for data collection, imaging, and processing. In the ocean, these capabilities can be used to inspect pipelines and other structures in situations that may be too dangerous or costly for human divers to inspect.

Hamada joins Hawaiian Telcom as VP of sales

Galen Hamada, former vice president and general manager of Time Warner Telecom Hawaii, has joined Hawaiian Telcom as vice president of sales.

Hamada, who has nearly 20 years of experience in Hawai'i's telecommunications industry, will head Hawaiian Telcom's Enterprise Accounts unit, focusing on the company's largest business customers.

He had worked at Time Warner since 1995, working his way up from account manager to director of sales. The Iolani graduate received a bachelor of science degree in communicative disorders from University of Redlands in California.

Hilton Hotels earnings more than double in second quarter

Hilton Hotels Corp. said its second-quarter earnings more than doubled, bolstered by gains related to asset sales and a favorable tax benefit.

The upscale hotel operator reported net income of $202 million, or 49 cents per share, compared with $75 million, or 19 per share, in the year-ago period. Stripping out nonrecurring items, Hilton reported earnings of $110 million, or 27 cents per share, compared with 18 cents per share a year ago. Revenue rose 10 percent to $1.18 billion.

The adjusted results topped Wall Street's mean estimate of 24 cents per share from 20 analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial. Revenue was also slightly better than analysts expected.