Combined excellence

Overview

Equinox is a true example of how Kraken Group company technologies combine to provide ground-breaking products. Designed around the Solstice MAS from Wavefront Systems, it is commercialised by Sonardyne and features our state-of-the-art SPRINT INS and Mini-Ranger 2 USBL for state-of-the-art navigation and positioning.

The Sonardyne and Wavefront Systems payloads are all mounted on EIVA’s renowned ScanFish 3D, a steerable remotely operated towed vehicle (ROTV). EIVA’s NaviSuite Kuda user interface is used to plan, autopilot and display the gathered data in real-time.

Producing stunningly accurate pictures, it’s ideal for vessels of opportunity or unmanned surface vessels delivering hydrographic, archaeological, search, salvage, unexploded ordnance, and mine countermeasure missions.

At a glance

• Mission ready; designed to support search, classify and map (SCM) and hydrographic operations
• Survey more ground in a single pass; effective area coverage rate (ACR) of up to 1.6 km2/hr
• Along track resolution of 0.15°; best in class delivering maximum detection rates
• Co-located side-scan image and bathy improves your situational awareness
• Real-time motion compensation and positioning accuracies better than 1 m DRMS
• Automatically follows terrain and avoids obstacles
• Suitable for site survey and characterisation and high tempo MCM missions

Why Equinox is perfect for your operations

The ScanFish 3D is a trusted ROTV and, thanks to its inherent stability, the ideal platform to operate Solstice from. At a total weight of 220 kg in air, Equinox can be easily mobilised.

Unlike towed Synthetic Aperture Sonar (SAS) systems, Equinox offers you an affordable, lower-logistics alternative still capable of providing high area coverage rates. By combining leading navigation and positioning from Mini-Ranger 2 USBL and SPRINT INS, imaging data is geo-referenced with an accuracy that’s unrivalled for these types of applications at this price.

Planning a mission is easy. Using NaviSuite Kuda software, you can define your sailing route and run-lines by simply selecting the area you would like to cover. During the mission, NaviSuite Kuda continuously updates the vessel and ScanFish 3D position in real-time.

Equinox also provides real-time geo-rectified waterfall, mosaics and DTM maps and the user interface tools that enable an operator to mark and process objects, including automatic target recognition using AI.

That’s not all; ScanFish 3D can carry heavier payloads and there is room in the fibre cable to include additional payload sensors such as gap fillers. Equinox users can count on improved probability of detection and decreased probability of false alarms, improving the efficiency of your mine countermeasures, archaeological, search and salvage missions.

Capture every feature and every detail in ultra-high resolution.

Key benefits

• Mission ready; designed to support search, classify and map (SCM) and hydrographic operations
• Small and compact arrays; optimised for low-logistic AUVs and towed bodies
• Survey more ground in a single pass; 200 m-wide swath ensures high coverage rates
• Along track resolution of 0.15°; best in class delivering maximum detection rates
• Collocated side scan image and bathy improves your situational awareness
• Consumes only 18 W power: budget friendly and increases your AUV’s endurance
• Depth rated to 300 or 600 m

Solstice offers enhanced underwater detection capabilities for various missions, including mine countermeasures, archaeological, search, and salvage operations. The system provides high-performance coverage with large 200m swaths on each side, enabling efficient site characterisation without sacrificing detail. Its class-leading imagery allows you to make confident classification decisions more quickly, with the added versatility of deployment on both autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) and towfish platforms. By improving probability of detection and decreasing false alarms, Solstice significantly increases the overall efficiency and reliability of underwater exploration and survey missions. It is suitable for:

• Autonomous underwater vehicles (AUV)
• Site survey and characterisation
• Mine countermeasures (MCM)
• Remotely operated vehicles (ROV)
• Delivering pixel perfect imaging

However, ACUA Ocean’s ambition goes beyond surface operations. The company’s strategy is built around a “nested robotics” model. Its moonpool has been designed to be configured for up to 7-tonne payloads, providing high configurability, including remotely operated vehicle (ROV) and autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) deployments. It’s a “Swiss Army Knife model,” says ACUA Ocean Chairperson Dr Peter Collinson!

PIONEER will act as a mobile offshore hub—launching, tracking and piloting ROVs, AUVs and other subsea sensor packages; operations that would historically require larger crewed ships.

To realise their goals, ACUA Ocean came to us for:

• Accurate, survey-grade positioning and tracking of tethered and untethered subsea systems
• Reliable subsea communications to support remote, over-the-horizon operations
• High data quality while operating in higher sea states
• Seamless integration with industry-standard subsea assets already used by customers
• The ability to operate all systems remotely, consistent with a beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS), uncrewed vessel model

The solution

To bridge the gap between surface autonomy and subsea operations, ACUA Ocean chose to integrate our Mini-Ranger 2 Ultra-Short Baseline (USBL) positioning and communications system onto PIONEER.

Mini-Ranger 2 is our survey-grade USBL system for tracking, positioning and communicating with subsea assets in coastal and shallow to mid-depth waters. It supports divers and marine robotics operations, with optional command-and-control for multi-vehicle fleets.

During integration trials in Plymouth, ACUA Ocean wanted to prove tracking accuracy, but also demonstrate PIONEER’s ability to function as a remote subsea command hub—deploying sensors, communicating with them and managing operations entirely from shore.

Mini-Ranger 2 was integrated with the vessel, using an HPT 3000 transceiver mounted on a temporary pole and an offboard WSM 6+ to validate end-to-end functionality.

The system was interfaced with PIONEER’s onboard power and network infrastructure and accessed remotely via a wide area network (WAN) and VPN connection.

The results

The trials demonstrated PIONEER’s ability to act as a subsea gateway, using our survey-grade acoustic systems.

This included successful remote operation of subsea positioning and communications over a WAN connection, tracking and communication with in-water assets at sea, data harvesting capability and interaction with subsea nodes, and technical readiness for ROV and AUV operations from PIONEER.

This included:

• Remote operability: Operators were able to access, configure and control the system from an onshore remote operations centre, without physical intervention onboard.
• Integration simplicity: Power provision for guest equipment, data connectivity and physical installation were straightforward, supporting the vessel’s modular payload philosophy.
• Data quality: Survey-grade positioning ensured that increased availability and rough-weather capability did not come at the expense of data accuracy or processing time.
• Interoperability: The system aligned with subsea technologies already widely deployed across commercial and defence markets, reducing risk for future customers.

“Through these trials, we successfully proved end-to-end functionality remotely over a WAN, establishing reliable communication between the HPT and subsea transponders both alongside and at sea using Mini-Ranger 2,” says James Cowles, Business Development Director at ACUA Ocean.

“The physical integration was remarkably simple, with the system’s intuitive UI and seamless VPN access allowing us to manage survey-grade technology over-the-horizon with zero issues on software or licensing.

“We were also exceptionally well-supported by Sonardyne’s local technical team here in Plymouth and these successful trials confirm our ability to host and manage survey-grade technology for complex, over-the-horizon missions.”

Proving the foundation for nested robotics at sea

“We’re happy to be supporting ACUA Ocean with our subsea positioning and communications technology to make their vision operational,” says Aidan Thorn, Business Development Manager – Robotics, at Sonardyne.

“With reliable, survey-grade tracking and acoustic communications, Mini-Ranger 2 is a key building block to making PIONEER a fully integrated subsea command and control hub. The flexibility of PIONEER’s deployment options, be they AUV, ROV, subsea glider or towed body fits well with our own philosophy with marine robotics to stay platform agnostic and work across the complete marine autonomous system.”

From enabling resilient positioning in GNSS-challenged environments to supporting multi-vehicle subsea operations, Mini-Ranger 2 provides the dependable subsea layer that underpins safe, scalable autonomy.

Together, ACUA Ocean and Sonardyne are demonstrating how proven subsea technology and innovative surface platforms can work in tandem—delivering cleaner, safer and more capable offshore operations from the surface down.

What is GNSS-A?

GNSS-A works by combining satellite positioning with underwater acoustics to track seafloor movement with centimetre-level accuracy. An uncrewed surface vessel (USV) with Sonardyne’s GNSS-A payload patrols above an array of Sonardyne Fetch transponders on the seabed.

Combining its known surface position with acoustic pulses down to each Fetch transponder allows it to calculate the precise position of each transponder – and therefore the position of the seabed it’s sitting on.

By repeating these measurements over time, scientists can track the movement of tectonic plates across faults to better understand and estimate earthquake and tsunami hazard.

One of the organisations using this technique to monitor subduction zones, where one plate is sliding under another, is the USGS.

They first started exploring its use in 2017, working in collaboration with the University of Hawaii and Scripps, and using a Wave Glider and seabed sensors, in order to measure how friction between two tectonic plates restricts sliding and causes a build-up of stress – essentially measuring “how stuck are the plates”.

Since then, they’ve continued to contribute to the development of GNSS-A using Sonardyne GNSS-A modules and Fetch transponders.

Critical insights from the Aleutian subduction zone

One of the tectonic sources of large earthquakes that USGS has been monitoring is the Aleutian Subduction Zone. It was here that the Chignik earthquake struck – and USGS was ready for a post-earthquake response mission.

Just a couple of years before, three GNSS-A monitoring sites had been set up on the seafloor off Alaska, in the Aleutian subduction zone, by a team of scientists funded by US National Science Foundation (NSF).

Several Wave Glider surveys had been carried by the USGS and Scripps prior to the M8.2 Chignik earthquake, monitoring the position of the sites in about 1,200 m water depth.

Within weeks of the earthquake, USGS had their Wave Glider back out to measure what movement there had been during and shortly after the earthquake.

Despite challenging weather conditions, the mission collected high-fidelity GNSS and acoustic data with eye-opening results.

“The tsunami was modest, but the seismic event was the largest in the US for nearly six decades,” says Ericksen, “so we expected a large movement. But it was incredible to know exactly how much – and that was 1.4 m.” This was a critical insight into the co- and post-seismic movement, helping to understand subduction zone dynamics.”

The big question was, did the Chignik earthquake increase the state of stress and tsunami potential on the up-dip portion of the fault or not?

“The measurements showed that the fault moved 2 – 3 m horizontally in a shallow part of the fault, less than 20 km below the seabed, helping us to understand how stress builds up along the fault and is released in an earthquake,” he says

“These results suggested that the cumulative slip had relieved stress on the shallow portion of the fault and therefore, the Chignik earthquake likely did not increase tsunami potential of the shallow fault.

“It also showed the effectiveness of the GNSS-A technique and the utility of rapid response GNSS-A measurements to better assess tsunami and earthquake hazards in the region.”

Read more about the Chignik data here.

The origins of GNSS-A

The ability to measure the movement of plates on the seabed is not that new. It’s based on what was originally called the GNSS-A technique, first developed by Scripps, specifically David Chadwell and Fred Spiess.

“Combining GNSS positioning and acoustic measurements to track seabed movement was a clever idea – and it worked,” says Michelle Barnett, Ocean Science Business Development Manager, at Sonardyne.

“But the cost of using crewed ships to do the positioning made it cost prohibitive. It was also technically challenging.”

“So, working with Scripps, in the early 2010s, we developed a combination of our Fetch long-life sensors and an off-the-shelf GNSS-A payload for Wave Gliders that can go out and do the survey work at a much lower cost than using a crewed ship.”

Worth the wait, even when waiting on weather

The technique is not without its challenges, however. After gathering the positions of the Aleutian subduction zone transponders, Ericksen and his team were naturally keen to see the data.

Due to the significant amounts of data involved – we’re talking 25-30 GB per site (comprising three Fetch) – only sub-samples are sent back to shore from the USV, primarily for quality control.

So, they have to wait until the USV comes back – or is brought back – to shore. Low levels of daylight in the Alaskan winter (when the Chignik survey was carried out) meant limited power availability for the USV.

Combined with bad weather, coordinating its recovery proved challenging, resulting in it taking four-months to recover the Wave Glider and offload the data.

Still, the wait was worthwhile and the results are providing greater insights than we’ve ever had before.

Read more

Sonardyne technology chosen for new Canadian seabed observatory.

TL;DR:

Scientists can now monitor underwater earthquake zones using GNSS-A technology—combining satellite positioning with acoustic sensors on the seabed. This breakthrough, developed through collaboration between Sonardyne, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and the USGS, allows them to track how tectonic plates move and where stress is building up, which was previously a “blind spot” beneath the ocean.

The technology: Sonardyne’s Fetch transponders sit on the seabed in arrays, while Wave Glider robots equipped with Sonardyne’s GNSS-A payload circle above them, using acoustic signals to precisely measure their positions over time. This makes continuous offshore monitoring both feasible and cost-effective for the first time.

“Historically, smaller electric vehicles have been limited in the amount of work they are capable of due to size, power and operational limits presented by weather conditions and surroundings.

Recent iterations of handheld ROVs such as the VideoRay Defender have looked to change what electric ROVs are capable of, while maintaining a platform that is easy to mobilise, operate and maintain. That said, the ROV is only as powerful as the tooling that it holds, so it still requires support from companies such as Sonardyne, to reduce the form factor and weight of their tools and sensors, to enable their integration and deployment offshore.

Atlantas Marine have already been utilising the SPRINT-Nav Mini to great success on our Ocean Modules V8 M500 platform, but Sonardyne’s latest navigator, SPRINT-Nav U, will allow us to go further and integrate it onto our VideoRay Defender ROVs, and provide another service that we can offer our customers – a hand-launched ROV, that can be mobilised in as little as half an hour, transported to site in the back of an car” Mark Salter, Senior Project Manager, Atlantas Marine.

“Like the other hybrid navigators in the SPRINT-Nav family, SPRINT-Nav U’s true north seeking gyrocompass means that it delivers reliable subsea navigation even when in close contact with the types of environmental factors outlined above. With its ultra-compact form factor (126 mm X 114 mm) and a weight in water of just 1.04kg, SPRINT-Nav U gives unrivalled navigation capability to small marine robotic system allowing users to maintain a heading accuracy of 0.15° regardless of environmental factors.

“SPRINT-Nav U has been designed with our customers in mind. We’ve been speaking to them for a number of years about their aspirations for operations with small platforms. With the help of valued customers like Atlantas Marine, our trials have demonstrated a variety of use cases for this new, compact navigator and we’re excited to work on many more innovative uses in future.” Aidan Thorn, Business Development Manager – Marine Robotics, Sonardyne.

Small, light, precise

SPRINT-Nav U is simple to integrate into any marine vehicle along with other payload sensors and uses same field-proven web user interface found on the SPRINT-Nav Mini. Pre-calibration in the factory also means that SPRINT-Nav U is incredibly quick to set up and deploy on site with an alignment time of as little as five minutes, compared to the standard 15-20 minutes of other gyrocompassing inertial navigation systems, making it the world’s fastest aligning hybrid navigator.

“SPRINT-Nav U can turn any marine robot into a survey grade platform. For UXO and asset inspection it drastically improves deliverable data quality. As part of the proven Sonardyne SPRINT-Nav family, customers can be assured of reliable, accurate navigation and positioning every time, no matter the operating environment.” John Houlder, Senior Product Manager, Sonardyne.

What the customers thought

Mark Salter, Senior Project Manager at Atlantas Marine – “Of particular significance to us, is the work we undertake on offshore wind turbines. With a high AC voltage running through the subsea cabling, and the strong magnetic signatures associated with that, plus the ferrous nature of the turbines themselves, the SPRINT-Nav U allows us to offer our customers a level of accuracy and precision that was previously not possible. It allows us to state with much higher confidence the location of any faults and anomalies, and allows us to repeat inspections, year on year, as we document the changing condition of those faults. With the positioning and control managed through Greensea, we can set up autonomous routes and sea patterns with more accuracy and precision than even before, especially in the environments we most commonly find ourselves.”

Richard Stanley, Project Leader at Atlantas Marine – “Providing improved accuracy when operating in ports and areas where large metallic objects are buried on or beneath the seabed, improves not only the reciprocal bearings of the lanes the ROV is flying, but feeds a more accurate heading into the navigation solution which is streamed to the surveyor. Beyond seabed surveys, the ability to maintain a stable heading while piloting a compact inspection-class ROV through culverts with rebar or complex subterranean tunnels is a key advantage. It reduces the need for frequent heading corrections and ensures precise navigation when traversing long distances. This ultimately enhances the quality of deliverables for our clients, providing us with a competitive edge when deploying our equipment.”

However, despite their importance, locating and monitoring seagrass beds using traditional methods, such as survey boats, presents significant challenges. Seagrass typically grows in shallow waters, which can make it difficult for boats to navigate close enough to the shore to obtain accurate data. Traditional survey boats are often large and cumbersome, making them hard to manoeuvre in shallow or rocky areas. This limitation can result in incomplete or inaccurate assessments of seagrass distribution and health.

Furthermore, the process of using boats for surveying can be time-consuming and labour-intensive. It often requires multiple trips and extensive manual labour to map out the seagrass beds accurately. The visibility in shallow waters can also be poor due to water turbidity, further complicating the survey efforts and leading to potential underestimation of seagrass coverage.

Finding a solution…

This is where Sonardyne and Wavefront Systems come in. The solution, which combines Sonardyne and Wavefront technology, is a survey boat carrying Solstice MAS™ (Multi-Aperture Sonar) as well as a SPRINT-Nav Mini mounted to a pole, deployed over the side of the boat; this maps the chosen area in 200 m wide strips. Once this survey has been completed, the sonar data that has been captured is then processed to create a map of the seagrass in a GIS. A Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) is then sent to the same area to ground truth features on the seabed to check that they are how they have been interpreted by Solstice MAS. The ROV is fitted with SPRINT-Nav Mini, allowing us to track its position underwater and guide it, using the map, to the features identified by Solstice; the ROV is also fitted with a camera and the recorded video can be used to create 3D models of the seabed.

Wavefront Systems’ Solstice MAS uses sound signals to produce high-quality images of the seabed, capable of creating images 200 metres wide at high resolution even in shallow water environments, all while consuming very little power. The Solstice family of sonars are built on unique MAS technology and are designed to fill the gap between standard side scan sonars, which are typically simple in design but give low image resolution, and Synthetic Aperture Sonars (SAS), which are expensive, more susceptible to complete data loss due to platform movement and also produce vast amounts of data. In order to execute more detailed mapping, Solstice MAS requires a high quality navigation sensor, which in this case is SPRINT-Nav Mini.

SPRINT-Nav Mini is an all-in-one vehicle guidance and navigation instrument, which combines AHRS data, Doppler Velocity Logger (DVL), Inertial Navigation System (INS) and depth sensor into a single housing. Having SPRINT-Nav Mini fitted onto the ROV provides positioning input, as well as attitude and heading data.

Adopting these technologies on such small versatile platforms opens the possibility of high-grade survey data in shallow waters. As a result of the cross Covelya Group collaboration between Sonardyne and Wavefront Systems, a high-definition map of seagrass beds can be created with a greater degree of accuracy than was previously possible with more traditional methods.

A seagrass restoration project conducted by the Ocean Conservation Trust (OCT) in Plymouth Sound, which involves monitoring, conserving and expanding the existing seagrass beds can be enhanced with the use of an ROV which has SPRINT-Nav Mini fitted to it. To help grow the existing seagrass beds, the OCT are placing seagrass mats on the seabed in Plymouth Sound. A survey boat fitted with Solstice and SPRINT-Nav Mini followed by an ROV fitted with SPRINT-Nav Mini can then be used to monitor and create a map of where these mats have been placed so that they have a better understanding of the success of the restoration and expansion project.

The solution

Portable and quick to mobilise, our Micro-Ranger 2 USBL system can be used from any waterside location or vessel to track divers, underwater vehicles and equipment. Ideal for using in lochs and challenging water.

It is our smallest ever underwater tracking system. Everything is engineered to fit in one medium-sized carry case. Apart from a laptop to run the software, nothing else is needed and the size is so small, it can be carried on a plane. Perfect for when Aquasky find work outside of Scotland.

For their anchor and mooring inspections, Aquasky attach a Micro-Ranger 2 Nano transponder to their ROV which then travels around the fish farms. A transceiver is mounted on a vessel nearby and acoustic signals between the transponder and transceiver are used to establish the ROVs, and therefore the anchor/moorings, position. This position can be displayed for in-water tracking and output in real world co-ordinates for interfacing into external chart plotting systems for the clients reports.

“We needed an accurate positioning system that continues to work as mooring lengths increase and in a noisy subsea environment. Having used other cheaper systems, the Micro-Ranger 2 is the only one able to consistently supply reliable positions for anchors at the 300m length currently used by the farms we service.“ Steve Barlow, Founder, Aquasky Ltd.

The results

By adding Micro-Ranger 2 to their subsea inspection tool kit, Aquasky Ltd are able to provide a service that has become the industry standard for fish farm inspections. Their use of an ROV means that inspections are quicker, safer and less expensive than traditional diver inspections. Using Micro-Ranger 2 ensures that the ROV never gets lost and provides accurate data which is vital for the inspection reports.

The challenge

Without surface platforms, acoustic data from the subsea sensors had to be harvested by crewed vessels in the early years of the field’s operation. This was costly, carbon heavy and posed a risk to personnel in often challenging sea conditions.

With a company ‘Powering Progress’ strategy to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, Shell was looking for an alternative data harvest method that would reduce cost and risk as well as its carbon footprint.

The solution

Marine robotic platforms provide the opportunity to remove carbon and personnel risk. Working with the customer and XOCEAN as a sub-contractor we developed a solution that would save time, costs. and carbon, while also eliminating the human risk element, using a USV to conduct the data harvest.

The proposal was to use our HPT 3000 transceiver mounted to an XOCEAN USV to remotely harvest data from the 75 seabed PMTs. The HPT 3000 is perfect in terms of size, weight and power for deployment from a USV and can communicate with seabed transponders at depths up to 995 m (or 4,000 m with an extended range version).

XOCEAN USVs are perfect for the data harvesting mission at Ormen Lange. They enable full over-the-horizon 24/7 operations. This means that operators and data analysts can remain safely onshore whilst the operation takes place and data can be sent ashore and verified in near real-time using the USV’s satellite communications.

This satisfied Shell’s commitment to accelerate the transition of their business to net-zero emissions and to integrate sustainability within their business strategy. Following the successful PMT installation in 2019, a five year project was agreed where Sonardyne are responsible for the data delivery to Shell and XOCEAN are responsible for delivering the transceiver to the field for data collection via their USV.

The results

The project began in January 2020 and this was the first time a remote USV data harvest was completed offshore in Norwegian waters by any operator.

Whilst the USV and HPT 3000 were in Norwegian waters surveying the Ormen Lange site, the Sonardyne and XOCEAN personnel never left their bases in England and Ireland.

The data harvest was monitored in real time, 24/7 and the two teams were in contact with each other as well as the remote equipment. This mean that data was being monitored by our team as it was collected and there was no risk of the USV returning with missing or irrelevant data. Had there been any missed or partially collected data the Sonardyne team could ask the XOCEAN team to return to recollect from a particular PMT whilst still in the field, rather than waiting until the vessel returned and having to send it out again.

Successful data harvests have been conducted yearly since 2020 and continue to be a cost effective, low impact operation. This year we collected data from the Ormen Lange site twice, in Spring and Autumn.

If you think you have a similar challenge for us, contact us today.

The technology

The fleet-level autonomy engine developed by Royal Holloway, University of London served as the mission’s central nervous system, making real-time decisions and replanning when necessary due to factors such as inaccurate mission execution, vehicle faults, changes in the operating environment or the addition and removal of stations. The division of labour enabled by this approach showed significant promise in productivity gains made possible by robotics and AI.

The SoAR Communications Backbone, developed and released by the team at the NOC, acted as a central messaging system which enabled interoperability between the fleet-level autonomy engine, each vehicle-specific command and control system and any other sub-system requiring bi-directional communication. This was key to allowing the seamless introduction of different platforms and sub-systems in diverse combinations to suit a wide range of mission objectives.

We provided inter-medium communications via our AvTrak 6 Nano acoustic transceivers fitted to each AUV. This enabled simultaneous USBL tracking via a surface vessel and robust telemetry for AUV-to-vessel and AUV-to-AUV communications.

A small swarm of four ecoSUB AUVs, each fitted with an AvTrak 6 Nano acoustic transceiver, played a crucial role in rapidly assessing the underwater environment and conducting preliminary evaluations to identify targets of interest.

An Auto-Hover 1 (AH1) AUV, owned and operated by NOC, capable of exceptional precision in maintaining station and navigating vertically within the water column, and fitted with an AvTrak transceiver, was dedicated to close inspection tasks, enabling intricate and comprehensive examination of identified targets.

Our HydroSurv REAV-60 uncrewed surface vessel ‘Decibel’ assumed a pivotal role, serving as a crucial communications gateway to and from the AUV swarm. It was fitted with an HPT 3000 transceiver and ran our well-established Ranger-2 software on its topside, facilitating inter-medium communication and providing navigation support to the AUVs. Decibel was also equipped with various communications devices including 4G/LTE and Iridium satellite communication systems to enable communications between subsea, surface and the Autonomy Engine.

The deployed SoAR fleet was managed and controlled from HydroSurv’s shore-based Remote Operations Centre in Exeter, using 4G/LTE and Iridium communications.

The results

The open-water trials successfully showcased co-ordinated missions designed, monitored and adapted in real-time by an intelligent “Autonomy Engine”. The trials involved several surface and underwater autonomous systems, with mission management conducted from a remote shore-based command and control facility.

SoAR has led to the introduction of several technological innovations, including advanced AI-driven mission planning, open-source communications protocols for heterogenous fleet coordination and a range of new and enhanced platform capabilities for both surface and sub-surface systems. The variety of small form factor robotic platforms involved in the project represented some of the best innovation in UK ocean robotics to date.

The SoAR concept is adaptable to various applications but strategically tailored to address the specific needs of the offshore wind sector, developing an approach that will offer new operating paradigms and substantial long term cost savings for offshore asset construction and maintenance compared to conventional methods.

SoAR received funding from the ‘Next Generation Subsea Technologies’ competition, a joint initiative supported by Innovate UK, the Net Zero Technology Centre and the Royal Navy.