Oceaneering International has ordered hybrid navigation systems from Sonardyne for its subsea resident vehicles Freedom and E-ROV.
The two resident vehicle systems are to be fitted with Sonardyne’s SPRINT-Nav all-in-one navigational instrument. SPRINT-Nav combines a SPRINT INS sensor, Syrinx 600 kHz DVL (Doppler velocity log) and a high accuracy intelligent pressure sensor in a single unit.
Oceaneering’s E-ROV has already proven the ability for battery powered remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) working in the oil and gas industry to be piloted from shore, via 4G mobile broadband transmitted from a buoy, independent of support vessels. The company’s next-generation resident hybrid ROV Freedom builds on the E-ROV concept. Due to debut in offshore trials later this year, Freedom is targeting long, maintenance free-deployments, on autonomous missions and with support from shore-based pilots.
The vehicle will be based out of docking stations on the seabed, enabling it to recharge and download data before and after its subsea inspection, maintenance and repair missions. It will operate in tethered and autonomous tetherless modes, performing both AUV and ROV related tasks, including survey, inspection, torque tool operation and manipulator-relator activities.
Oceaneering’s Jami Cheramie says, “Both of these systems have been developed to drive a step-change in inspection, repair and maintenance operations in subsea oil and gas fields, to help both increase uptime, operational flexibility and autonomy. A single hybrid instrument for their navigational needs.”
