Hydroid, Inc., a subsidiary of Kongsberg Maritime and the leading manufacturer of Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs), announced its newest AUV, the REMUS 600 Survey (REMUS 600-S) at the XVIII International Hydrographic Conference (IHC) in Monaco.
The REMUS 600-S is a high performance version of the successful REMUS 600 AUV and features advanced technology that has only previously been available in Kongsberg’s accomplished HUGIN vehicles, making it ideal for such applications as International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) quality surveys.
Specifically, the REMUS 600-S incorporates a Kongsberg EM 3002 Multibeam Echosounder (MBES) operating at 300 kHz. The MBES has previously been shown to exceed the feature-detection requirements of the IHO standard S-44 for Order 1a surveys.
The vehicle also features Kongsberg’s Navigation Processing Suite (NavP), which improves timing accuracy to 1 ms or better and provides complete time synchronization of all onboard sensors, and the Navigation Laboratory (NavLab) software, which enhances the NavP by increasing navigational integrity.
“ By integrating Kongsberg technology, this next-generation AUV can collect high-resolution, IHO-quality data with unmatched accuracy, ” said Christopher von Alt, President and co-founder of Hydroid. “ By incorporating long-endurance capabilities and increased-payload capacities, the REMUS 600-S brings a new level of excellence to applications such as under-ice surveys, pipeline inspection and channel monitoring. ”
The REMUS 600-S benefits United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLS) surveys, search and recovery operations, emergency response surveys, rapid environmental assessment and military survey operations by providing a transportable and reliable platform to gather high resolution data. The vehicle comes equipped with a full suite of communications options, including Iridium, Wi-Fi and acoustic communication; Hydroid’s flexible Vehicle Interface Program (VIP); and an EdgeTech 2200-S Sidescan Sonar.
Hydroid’s REMUS AUVs are modular and may be fitted with a large number of different types of sensors and have been used to aid in hydrographic surveys, harbor security operations, scientific sampling and mapping, as well as many basic and applied research programs funded by ONR, DARPA and the UK Ministry of Defense. With over 300 vehicles in the field, Kongsberg Maritime is currently the AUV market leader.
[mappress] Naval Today Staff, April 24, 2012; Image: Hydroid