Integrated navigation, positioning and communications technology from Sonardyne Inc. will support a new, fuel cell-powered long-range unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) being designed by subsea specialist Cellula Robotics Ltd. for the Canadian defence department.

The UUV, called Solus-LR, is being designed to be able to travel up to 2,000 kilometres and stay submerged on multi-month missions, supported by an onboard fuel cell power pack. To help meet these demanding long-duration and long-distance navigational requirements, Cellula Robotics has ordered one of Sonardyne’s high-performance SPRINT-Nav subsea navigation instruments for the Solus-LR.

SPRINT-Nav, which combines a SPRINT INS, Syrinx 600 kHz DVL and a high accuracy intelligent pressure sensor in a single housing, is one of the smallest and the highest performing combined inertial navigation instruments on the market.

For tracking the vehicle from the surface, receiving data packets from it and sending mission commands to it, Cellula Robotics has also ordered a Micro-Ranger 2 Ultra-Short BaseLine (USBL) system with optional Marine Robotics software feature pack, and an AvTrak 6 combined transponder and telemetry transceiver, which will be integrated into the UUV. Micro-Ranger 2 is Sonardyne’s most compact underwater target tracking system, built around the company’s 6G hardware and Wideband 2 digital acoustic technology platform which delivers consistently in any operational scenario.

Sea trials of the Solus-LR, which are expected to start in late 2019, running through to early 2020, will also be supported by the use of Sonardyne’s Compatt 6 seabed transponders and the company’s BlueComm 200 underwater optical communication instruments. BlueComm 200s are able to transmit high-bandwidth data, including video, at up to 150 metres. The trials will be held in the Indian Arm fjord, near Vancouver, British Columbia, close to Cellula’s Robotics’ headquarters.

Solus-LR is being built for the Canadian Department of National Defence’s (DND) science and technology organization, Defence Research and Development Canada (DRDC), under the All Domain Situational Awareness (ADSA) Science & Technology (S&T) Program. The ADSA S&T program is supporting projects which could help to enhance domain awareness of air, maritime surface and sub-surface approaches to Canada, in particular those in the Arctic.

[blockquote author=” Eric Jackson, President of Cellula”]”This S&T program will showcase Cellula’s advanced UUV research and development, combining traditional technologies with innovative power and anchoring solutions. With Solus-LR able to travel for thousands of kilometers, port to port missions will become a feasible lower-cost alternative to vessel-based operations.”[/blockquote]

Oceaneering International Inc. has ordered hybrid navigation systems from underwater technology specialist Sonardyne Inc. for its subsea resident vehicles Freedom and E-ROV.

The two resident vehicle systems are to be fitted with SPRINT-Nav our all-in-one navigational instrument. SPRINT-Nav combines a SPRINT INS sensor, Syrinx 600 kHz DVL (Doppler velocity log) and a high accuracy intelligent pressure sensor in a single unit, making it one of the smallest and highest performing combined inertial navigation instruments on the market.

Oceaneering’s E-ROV has already proven the ability for battery-powered remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) working in the oil and gas industry to be piloted from shore, via 4G mobile broadband transmitted from a buoy, independent of support vessels. The company’s next-generation resident hybrid ROV Freedom builds on the E-ROV concept. Due to debut in offshore trials later this year, Freedom is targeting long, maintenance free-deployments, on autonomous missions and with support from shore-based pilots.

The vehicle will be based out of docking stations on the seabed, enabling it to recharge and download data before and after its subsea inspection, maintenance and repair missions. It will operate in tethered and autonomous tetherless modes, performing both AUV and ROV-related tasks, including survey, inspection, torque tool operation and manipulator-relator activities.

[blockquote author=” Jami Cheramie, Oceaneering”] Both of these systems have been developed to drive a step-change in inspection, repair and maintenance operations in subsea oil and gas fields, to help both increase uptime, operational flexibility and autonomy. A single hybrid instrument for their navigational needs.[/blockquote]

“Tight integration of the separate sensors within SPRINT-Nav as well as the use of high-specification Ring Laser Gyros are behind the high performance our customers are seeing from these units. Combined with their compact form factor, these results are seeing SPRINT-Nav fast becoming the INS instrument of choice for resident vehicles,” said Char Franey, Sales Manager for Survey and Construction at Sonardyne in Houston.

“They’re free from the calibration routines otherwise required and, because they also run on a unique dual engine algorithm, powering the INS and Gyro compass, initialisation is fast and gaps in navigation are few and far between. Thanks to these qualities, SPRINT-Nav is not only ideally suited to subsea resident vehicle applications, but also autonomous and unmanned underwater vehicle (AUV/UUV) navigation.”