AUVs Knifefish Variant
2 Gavias for NCS NCS Survey has expanded its growing autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) fleet with the purchase of two Teledyne Gavia AUVs. These are the latest in the Gavia Offshore Surveyor series and are equipped with high-resolution side scan sonar, a multi-beam echo sounder, a sub-bottom profiler, an ultra-short baseline positioning system, long baseline (LBL), GPS and an inertial navigation system. The AUVs are used to provide ultra-high-resolution data for pipeline and platform inspections; scour monitoring surveys; cable and pipe route surveys; and offshore wind farm surveys. For three years, NCS Survey has operated these vehicles in difficult access and remote areas including the southern tip of Argentina. Additionally, the company has a high level of repeat business from clients like Shell, BP and ConocoPhillips. The vehicles are rated to 1000m but regularly operate in depths as shallow as 2m. They can perform in currents of more than 2kts, under jackup drilling rigs and very close to fixed platform structures. Their modularity offers ease of transportation as no module weighs more than 25kg in its transit case.
Bluefin Robotics will produce a variation of the Knifefish UUV for the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL). Knifefish is a specialised Bluefin-21 UUV that is being developed for the Surface Mine Countermeasure Unmanned Underwater Vehicle (SMCM UUV) programme for which Bluefin is under subcontract to General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems. The vehicle will be used to advance NRL’s low-frequency broadband (LFBB) payload technology and support their broader mission to advance basic and applied research in undersea warfare. In addition to many of the Knifefish features, NRL’s new vehicle will be equipped with two-way iridium communications, specialized sensors, and empty sections that will accommodate their acoustic payload, including a towed receiver array, and a reacquisition capability. Bluefin will also deliver topside support equipment and graphicaluser interface software tools.
“The addition of these Gavia AUVs to our fleet is a reflection of a growing demand from current and potential clients for AUV services in 2012,” said NCS Survey president Andy Gray. “As a global leader in the use of this equipment, we are constantly growing and expanding in accordance to our clients’ demands.
Knifefish AUV
Teledyne Gavia AUVs
UT3 February 2013
46