USVs deliver hydrographic project savings

The project, planned to start in June 2019, will be run from Ocean Infinity’s vessel ‘Seabed Constructor’ and will collect hydrographic data over an area in excess of 800km², using up to three Ocean Infinity unmanned surface vessels (USVs). These USVs are typically used for offshore oilfield surveying and will cut the duration of the survey by two thirds and reduce fuel consumption by 90%.

Oliver Plunkett, Ocean Infinity’s chief executive, said that the company was excited to be working with Guardian Geomatics. “Our ability to utilise multiple USVs simultaneously to collect data across such a vast area, in such a short space of time, and at the same time so materially reducing the environmental impact of the project compared to other service providers, delivers for our clients a truly unique and high value solution,” he said.

Steve Duffield, Guardian Geomatics’ commercial director, thanked Shell for their belief in the new technology and methodology, highlighting its benefits. “By using unmanned surface vessels instead of a conventional vessel, Shell is able to reduce the onsite data acquisition time by a factor of 3. Using Guardian’s Seabed-Cloud technology the data is able to be presented to the users with a much quicker turnaround. The fuel usage on the project is estimated to be reduced by a factor 10,” he said.