Ocean Floor Geophysics (OFG) has invested in a 3000 meter-rated Hugin autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV).
The AUV Chercheur is equipped with a sensor and software suite for inspection of pipelines and infrastructure, pipeline route studies, site geohazard surveys, environmental monitoring surveys, and other seafloor-based applications such as UXO, archeology, salvage, and minerals exploration, OFG explained.
In addition, the Chercheur is equipped with high resolution interferometric synthetic aperture sonar (HiSAS), multibeam echosounder EM2040, a sub-bottom profiler, an environmental geochemical sensing suite, a high resolution still photography camera and an OFG self-compensating magnetometer (SCM) system.
OFG’s CTO Peter Kowalczyk said, “ When considering this investment, we felt that synthetic aperture sonar (SAS) is the technology by which other sonar imagery will be measured in the future and that it was a requirement for any new AUV purchase. The incredible imagery produced by the HiSAS system confirms this.”
“OFG looks forward to supporting our clients and commercial and technology partners with the deployment of this portable, self-contained AUV survey and inspection system around the world,” the company added.