Hugin finding worldwide orders
Survey providers DOF Subsea of Norway, Fugro Geoservices of the USA, Northwest Maritime of Norway and AXA Engehnaria Submarina of Brazil are the latest survey companies to have chosen Norwegian company, Kongsberg Maritime’s autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) Hugin.
DOF Subsea’s Hugin is rated to 3000 metres and carries a range of sensors making it capable of completing several tasks in parallel. The launch and onboard Stinger is designed to operate from ships with freeboards of up to 5 meters in up to Sea State 5, making it highly flexible to use.
“DOF Subsea’s newest Hugin addition is very flexible. This gives the company several areas of usage, including geophysical surveys, inspection of subsea facilities and environmental inspections. Another important usage area is quick inspection of pipelines. We have developed the capacity to inspect pipelines both alongside the pipe and on top of the pipe using sidescan sonar, multibeam sonar and a high resolution camera. Hugin can also use environmental sensors to sniff for methane and oil leakage in water. The unique software that enables Hugin to follow as close as three metres directly above the pipeline is a result of several years of development,” said Geir Espen Schmidt, Vice President AUV at Kongsberg Maritime.
The Hugin supplied to Fugro Geoservices Inc. is rated for operations from 10 to 4500 metres and carries a payload suite that enables it to perform advanced survey operations and inspections. Designed for portability and operation from ships of opportunity, the sophisticated AUV is supplied in a series of packing cases and configured for easy assembly after arriving in the area of operation.
Northwest Maritime AS of Norway, and AXA Engehnaria Submarina of Brazil have recently taken delivery of the first of two Hugin AUV systems specifically configured for pipe survey operations. Supplied as a containerised system, the first vehicle is tailored for survey operations, including launch and onboarding system and post-mission analysis of collected software. The vehicle is fitted with one of the world’s most advanced sonars that provide acoustic pictures and sea maps with high resolution, and a still camera providing georeferenced high resolution pictures of subsea pipes. The second Hugin will be delivered to Northwest Maritime and AXA later in 2014, equipped with a similar payload suite and rated to 3000 metres.
According to Kongsberg Maritime, its Hugin Autonomous Underwater Vehicle is the most successful AUV available in the commercial survey industry. In total, Hugins have completed more than 700,000 line kilometres of commercial survey across the globe. The vehicles come in several depth ratings and endurance options. They can be supplied with a variety of payload sensors including modular packages that can be added or removed for specific missions.
By Jake Frith
