A joint project led by Sonardyne International Ltd., with partners the National Oceanography Centre (NOC) and L3Harris, has set “new standards in long-endurance underwater navigation and automated subsea positioning,” according to the entities.

One of the main goals of the two-year, £1.4 million Precise Positioning for Persistent Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (P3AUV) project was to integrate existing and emerging technologies to deliver a “step-change” in unmanned platform endurance and navigational precision.

The project also sought to use USVs to increase the use of autonomy in offshore survey positioning operations, which ultimately reduces risk to personnel, environmental impact and operating costs.

The final project trials were completed this month in Loch Ness, Scotland.  

“Sending autonomous and unmanned underwater vehicles (AUV/UUVs) out on missions that will last for weeks or even months, unaided by crewed ships is a shared vision held by the ocean science, offshore energy and defense sectors. But, current constraints on AUV or UUV operations, such as onboard battery capacity and navigational accuracy degradation over time, has meant that the role these vehicles have had to play has been largely restricted to relatively short deployments,” explains Geraint West, Sonardyne’s Global Business manager for Ocean Science.

“As the only company that produces an all-in-one hybrid acoustic-inertial-Doppler navigation and communication solutions for AUVs and USVs, we were uniquely placed to collaborate with the NOC and L3Harris to realize the ambitious aims of the P3AUV project. We’ve also proven the capability to autonomously calibrate networks of seafloor positioning transponders with an L3Harris C-Worker 5 USV to make offshore survey and construction operations faster and easier.”

Sonardyne notes that using autonomous calibration techniques takes away the need for a manned vessel to perform this task, which takes people out of harm’s way, reduces fuel emissions, and improves efficiencies.

“Combining all of these capabilities will bring about a step-change in AUV operations, providing a disruptive capability in the marine autonomy space,” says Matt Kingsland, NOC.

“Indeed, reducing the cost and improving the navigation precision of autonomous ocean science in remote areas could bring a disruptive capability to a wide variety of applications.”