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Autotracker's Successful Trials
01 Oct 2004
Subsea 7's Integrated Remote Technologies Division in Aberdeen has successfully completed a second series of in-water trials of its Geosub AUV fitted with a custom-built Autotracker module for highspeed, low-altitude pipeline inspection. Sponsored by BP, the trials were carried out in Scapa Flow, Orkney following earlier ones in Peterhead Bay.
Unlike conventional AUV surveys, where a vehicle's mission is typically pre-programmed before deployment with through-mission positioning accuracy maintained by updates transmitted from a surface vessel, Autotracker is capable of autonomously detecting a pipeline's location while maintaining relative station to ensure optimum sensor coverage as the AUV navigates along the pipeline.
Incorporating a 3D collisionavoidance facility for safety of both its vehicle and subsea installations, the module's development is the outcome of an EU part-funded project jointly involving research laboratories of Heriot Watt University, the National Technical University of Athens and the University of Balearic Islands. Other consortium members are Alcatel Submarine Networks and BP along with Subsea 7 IRT Division's Geosub AUV and its associated technology including multibeam and sidescan sonar systems together with integrated engineering services.
According to BP, the latest trials are "an exciting step and bring AUV-type inspection significantly closer to commercial reality."
