Author: Nick Swift, Business Manager, Maritime Security

There are more unmanned and autonomous underwater vehicles commercially available today than there has ever been.

They offer huge benefits to marine operations, such as reducing manning and increasing safety and efficiency, in markets from oil and gas and ocean science to hydrographic survey and the military. In the military segment, they’re used for tasks including survey and mine counter measures, or MCM.

Indeed, this week in Glasgow, the use of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) to expand naval and defence capabilities is a common theme at the Undersea Defence Technology (UDT) Conference. Here, they’re able to carry “off-board” sensors and widen operational reach.

As these capabilities increase, as systems become more efficient, cheaper to own and not necessarily that difficult to operate, they’re also starting to be seen as a potential threat. They could, for example, be used for anything from carrying senors for intelligence gathering operations right the way through to carrying explosives.

They could be used to target port-side assets, such as naval or national infrastructure like nuclear power stations, as well as commercial, leisure and military vessels. Think about an aircraft carrier, for example. Someone could program one of these vehicles to be put in the water many kilometres away and direct it into the carrier.

For navies, especially, this is an increasing area of threat; it is an example of technology enabling asymmetric warfare in the maritime domain, increasing the uncertainty about the security of their assets in the marine space.

In UDT’s opening plenary session, Rear Admiral Odd Wein, Head of Naval Systems Department, Swedish Defence Materiel Administration (FMV), described a “grey zone” they see in the marine domain, not least in the Baltic Sea area, a busy, shallow water area. Reducing uncertainty about what is happening in this space, from more normal activities such as search and rescue operations, to actions towards shipping and through to sabotage and full-scale attacks, is important for national security, he said.

Threats need to be detected before they become a danger; they also need to be tracked in order to find out where they are going and therefore where and how the can be intercepted. With this information, asset owners, depending on what the asset is, can decide on an action. For a yacht, for example, that could be to start the engines and move away.

Our Sentinel Intruder Detection Sonar (IDS) was designed as an intruder detection sonar and is equally capable of detecting and tracking AUVs, as well as divers, which present a potential threat to assets or infrastructure.

Operations with Sentinel could even be supported by our multi-aperture side scan sonar Solstice. Solstice was designed for search and classify operations and could be used to periodically survey port or harbour areas for any unexpected objects on the seafloor. This could even be an AUV that has been driven in and then sinks to the seafloor – with an unknown payload.

Get in touch if you would like to hear more about Sentinel or Solstice.

Author: Elaine Maslin, Senior Content Writer and Editor

There’s nothing like starting a new job at the deep end and at Sonardyne that’s quite literally what happened for me.

With my feet barely through the door, I travelled with the team from company headquarters in Blackbushe, Hampshire, down to Plymouth, to join our latest Marine Robotics Week event.

Over three days, we “opened the doors” to our training and testing vessels in Plymouth’s Mayflower Marina to give existing and future clients an in-depth and hands-on look at our marine robotics technology capabilities.

Marine robotics is a fast-growing segment of the marine industry, featuring unmanned surface vessels (USVs) and autonomous or unmanned underwater vehicles (UUV/AUVs), and the systems that connect and control them, which we specialise in.

Plymouth Sound, on the edge of which Mayflower Marina sites, is a challenging environment to operate and demonstrate these systems in, with aggressive tides and different thermal as well as seawater and freshwater layers, all of which make for a tough proving ground for underwater technologies. However, this means those working in the military, oil and gas and ocean science sectors can see our technologies performing in real and challenging conditions – from the comfort and warmth of our vessels.

Our research vessel Echo Explorer took visitors out into the Sound to demonstrate our Solstice side scan multi-aperture sonar.

Solstice, which boasts an impressive 200 metre swath, using only 18 watts, is designed to work on small AUVs operating in stable conditions at a constant depth from the seafloor. For this demonstration, however, it was deployed over the side of Echo Explorer, in fairly rough conditions. Despite this set up, it was still able to pick out details on the seafloor that you would not normally expect to see with a multi-aperture sonar.

Echo Explorer was also used to demonstrate our combined SPRINT-Nav, which houses an INS, DVL and a high precision pressure sensor, in one compact and easy to integrate unit. SPRINT-Nav also performed well within its expected limits.

Meanwhile, onboard Sound Surveyor, our second 12 metre catamaran based at Mayflower Marina, we demonstrated the latest software bolt-on for our Ranger 2 USBL tracking system, the Marine Robotics Pack. Used with AvTrak 6 multi-function transceivers, the Marine Robotics Pack enables tracking and communication with and between multiple subsea targets, such as AUVs or swarms of vehicles, at the same time.

In our static floating classroom, Val B, we focused on BlueComm, our high-speed optical modem. BlueComm can enable high-speed and high-volume data transfer between underwater objects or between underwater and surface based systems, such as an AUV and USV. So how high-speed is high-speed? Well, put it this way, you could transfer HD video with BlueComm, which means subsea survey data could be transmitted to shore far faster than is otherwise possible.

USV supplier and operator ASV Global also joined us to give an on the water demonstration of its C-Cat 3 USV platform, equipped with our Syrinx DVL. As well as providing bottom-lock navigation aiding, Syrinx’s ADCP mode was used to show how a water column can be profiled “on the go”. The sight of an unmanned yellow craft manoeuvring between private yachts certainly caught the eye of many other marina users during the week.

Many of our visitors were impressed that we were happy to demonstrate our technologies in far from ideal environments (including a very windy and quite wet day one).

Our visitors were also impressed with the range and the capabilities of technologies demonstrated and the breadth and depth of knowledge the staff we had on site to talk them through the various systems (as well as a tasty lunch in the on-site restaurant).

The event was also a chance for us to show off our Plymouth Sea Trials and Training Centre facilities at Mayflower Marina, which are available to hire. Indeed, all our vessels, their crew and instrumentation, can be hired, supported by permanently installed LBL and USBL equipment on site.

Most importantly, the event was also a chance for us to meet our clients, to discuss how we can help them and to adapt our technologies to meet their needs, and for our visitors meet us and other visitors.

Ioseba Tena, Global Business Manager for Marine Robotic Systems, led the event. He said: “It’s about the opportunity to have time to talk to our customers, understand their requirements and see how we can adapt our solutions to meet their requirements.”

Marine Robotics Week was our third marine robotics demonstration event. We hope to hold more and are planning the next one, which will be outside the UK. Let us know if you would like to attend a future event and don’t just take it from us how useful these events are. Watch our short film from the event to see for yourself.