UTEC Advances Service Offering with Doubling of Its AUV Fleet

The growing company now operates a fleet of four identically equipped 1000m rated AUV systems on a global basis for the benefit of its growing client base. The fleet offers clients enhanced subsea positioning, robust operational performance, low logistics coupled to dual mode operations utilizing client’s vessels of opportunity, all in all a highly flexible system.

The AUV’s comprise of separate modules which enable the AUV to change configurations by adding or deleting sensor modules, subject to the demands of each mission. Typical recent missions have included pre-route survey, structure and pipeline inspection, scour monitoring as well as shallow environmental investigation. This on the fly adaptation means that a mission undertaking seafloor bathymetry can be reconfigured and undertake the next mission with a suite of environmental sensors for locating hydrocarbon seeps or acting as a pipeline leak detection vehicle. The AUV’s endurance with a full sensor suite is approximately six hours, however, due to its low logistics and small backdeck footprint, multiple AUV’s can be deployed in the water at any one time from a single vessel that enables the full 24 hours per day data acquisition.

Developments and enhancements to the standard off the shelf systems include: sub-bottom profiler module integration; enhanced surface “DGPS” acquisition; development of subsea ‘acoustic’ positioning techniques; the introduction of ‘magnetometer’ ferrous metal detection module; seep/leak detection capabilities and photogrammetry capability for subsea structures/pipelines.

Trevor Hughes, Global Sales Director UTEC , comments: “A single fleet design allows us to offer enhancements to the whole fleet in terms of additional sensors and firmware upgrades, which primarily saves time and money to clients, where their needs change almost on a monthly basis.”

Press Release, May 15, 2014; Image: UTEC