Saildrone, a specialist in autonomous ocean exploration, says it has successfully integrated and operated a sub-bottom profiler (SBP) on a Saildrone Voyager unmanned surface vehicle (USV).
The capability was first used in the Baltic Sea to monitor critical infrastructure and survey the seabed while supporting the Danish Ministry of Defence Acquisition and Logistics Organisation (DALO).
The Innomar Medium USV SBP is a parametric, high-resolution system designed to acquire full-waveform acoustic data that reveals the structure, layering, and composition of the seafloor and sub-seafloor.
Brian Connon, vice president of ocean mapping at Saildrone, says: “The combination of the Innomar SBP and the Saildrone Voyager presents a wide range of opportunities for our customers to detect and track critical changes in seafloor geology, whether for the protection of subsea cables or building pylons for wind turbines.
“Saildrone is proud to add the Innomar SBP to the Voyager’s array of capabilities and to support the Danish government in enhancing its maritime awareness.”
Equipped with the Innomar Medium-USV SBP, a Saildrone Voyager is capable of acquiring high-resolution, deep-penetrating sub-seafloor imagery for mapping sediment layers, identifying geological structures, and investigating sub-seafloor stratigraphy.
It is well-suited for coastal and shelf sediment surveys, identifying buried geological features, and the detection of larger subsurface anomalies or utilities such as pipelines or cables.
Saildrone can operate the SBP up to 250 meters in water depth and penetrate the seafloor up to 70 meters, depending on the sediment type.
The Saildrone Voyager is a 10-meter unmanned surface vehicle designed for persistent surface and subsurface surveillance. The Voyager can remain on station and on mission for months at a time without human intervention.
The innovative design of the Saildrone Wing provides extreme range and endurance necessary to efficiently patrol and survey regions such as the Baltic Sea.
Saildrone has been operating four Voyager USVs in the Baltic Sea for six continuous months. The mission has achieved 92 percent uptime across its fleet under a range of harsh weather and sea-state conditions.
Saildrone USVs are designed to provide surface and subsurface surveillance for months at a time. The innovative design of the Saildrone Wing provides extreme range and endurance, ensuring uninterrupted coverage.
Saildrone operations in the Baltic Sea are based out of the company’s European subsidiary in Copenhagen, Denmark, which is locally staffed by Europeans and supports the Northern Europe region.
