Anglo-Canadian underwater mapping venture
Subsea technology leaders Sonardyne International in Hampshire, UK and 2G Robotics of Ontario, Canada are to formally collaborate on the development and promotion of a dynamic underwater laser mapping system which they say will significantly reduce the time needed to survey seafloor sites and offshore structures.
Basis of the agreement centres on integration of Sonardyne’s acoustically-aided inertial navigation system for underwater vehicles, Sprint-Mapper, with 2G Robotics’ULS-500 PRO dynamic underwater laser scanner. Combined projects conducted over the past six months have shown that the two assemblies jointly produce a complete solution for fast and efficient dynamic laser scan applications. These would typically include archaeological surveys, pipeline and free span inspections, structural integrity monitoring and one of the most exacting of all underwater surveying tasks requiring centimetric accuracy, pipeline metrology.
The new technique uses 2G Robotics’ ULS-500 PRO laser scanner fitted to an underwater vehicle to capture high density point clouds of subsea assets and environments. As the vehicle moves around a site, Sonardyne’s Sprint-Mapper hardware, also fitted to the vehicle, simultaneously collects raw acoustic and inertial navigation data. On completion of the survey, the raw navigational data is subsequently post-processed and merged with the laser data to produce a geo-referenced 3D point cloud from which centimetric level or better engineering measurements can be taken.
By adopting a dynamic platform such as an ROV navigated via Sprint-Mapper, the high-resolution laser data is no longer constrained by a stationary deployment location. Instead an entire site can now be surveyed quickly and with the flexibility to overcome adverse conditions such as visibility. Moreover, as the underwater vehicle does not have to come into contact with the seabed at a survey site, it can move to scan any target of interest from a variety of perspectives.
Both Sonardye and 2G Robotics claim their new partnership represents an important development for customers seeking to use this particular form of subsea technology. Available from their respective worldwide distributors, it provides an all-inclusive package for dynamic scanning while effectively eliminating any integration challenges.
This new partnership represents an important development for the customer seeking to employ this survey technology. Through the agreement, both 2G Robotics and Sonardyne, supported by their respective distributors, can now offer a complete package for dynamic scanning – effectively eliminating any integration challenges faced by the end customer.
By David Goodfellow
