Danish engineering company EIVA has launched a new remotely operated towed vehicle (ROTV) tailored for autonomous unmanned surface vehicle (USV) systems.
The ViperFish ROTV is an all-in-one sensor platform for high-resolution data collection by USV, which is said to be able to survey hard-to-reach areas, with sensors close to the seabed.
According to EIVA, the vehicle uses the same electronics and flight control as the UXO survey sensor platform ScanFish. It is integrated with the Wavefront Solstice multi-aperture side-scan sonar (MAS), EdgeTech 2205 side-scan sonar, R2Sonic multi-beam echo sounder, OFG Hypermags, Sonardyne SPRINT-Nav Mini positioning, and Valeport sound velocity sensor.
Depending on the payload chosen, the sensor platform can be used for offshore energy seabed mapping, geophysical site inspections (UXO), subsea pipe/cable inspections, and defense, including mine countermeasures, rapid environmental assessment, intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance.
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The Danish company stated that ViperFish experiences minimal drag thanks to active flaps, resulting in a low energy cost of operations and keeps sensors highly stable with a design that stays horizontal at all times and minimizes turbulence through laminar flow.
In addition, Flight control software can be integrated with EIVA’s software toolbox NaviSuite to leverage autopilot and survey automation capabilities, such as real-time data processing and Vessel-Aided Terrain Follow mode, which uses real-time or pre-survey MBES data for early warning to automatically avoid steep obstacles more smoothly.