Fugro Survey and Hafmynd Ehf, in a joint initiative with Woodside Energy, have trialed a Gavia Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) down to a water depth of 1,000 m (3,281 ft).
Offshore staff
PERTH, Australia -- Fugro Survey and Hafmynd Ehf, in a joint initiative with Woodside Energy, have trialed a Gavia Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) down to a water depth of 1,000 m (3,281 ft). This surpasses the previous maximum recorded depth of 220 m (722 ft) achieved by a Gavia vehicle, the companies say.
The Gavia AUV manufactured in Iceland by Hafmynd is a small and portable. Its modular configuration enables the inclusion of various payloads in addition to the base vehicle configuration. Options include an Inertial Navigation System, GeoSwath bathymetric sonar, and additional battery modules for increased endurance.
The trial model has an underwater camera, sidescan sonar, multi-beam echosounder, INS, and navigation software enabling it to automatically track a pipeline on the seabed. Fugro Survey will manage the Woodside Gavia AUV, supervising factory and customer acceptance trials, personnel training, field operations, and maintenance and storage of the vehicle.
Woodside anticipates using the AUV primarily for pipeline inspection surveys, as well as for near-shore environmental surveys, debris surveys in restricted areas, and deepwater inspections of flowlines and other seabed infrastructure.
