ASI Marine sets record
Canada’s ASI Marine has set a record for the longest tunnel swim with a Saab Seaeye Falcon ROV in both Australia and Canada.
Using a modified Falcon ROV, the company sent the vehicle through a pipeline over 4km under Gladstone Harbour, Queensland to Curtis Island.
The same Falcon was also sent through 5km of feeder pipes in freezing conditions in Lake Ontario, Canada, to create the world’s largest cooling system.
ASI Marine’s senior operations manager, Bob Clarke, said they chose the Falcon for its “moderate size, good thrust-to-weight ratio and telemetry capacity”. It’s also capable of unlimited inspection durations and was fitted with video and profiling sonar with a BlueView imaging sonar and Mesotech scanning sonar as additional navigation aids.
The ROV’s “intelligent architecture” means each device on the vehicle can have its own microprocessor for individual control and systems can be easily changed or added.
As a module-focused concept, the Falcon generates automatic diagnostics on power-up to ensure each device is fully interfaced and working correctly.
ASI also modified the Falcon’s power supply so it could operate over 5km of tether.
By Rachael Doyle
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