HYDROGRAPHIC SURVEY

Rovlatis completes trials

17 years ago

Rovlatis, a new ‘ smart’ ROV designed for international marine applications by the University of Limerick’ s Mobile & Marine Robotics Research Centre (MMRC), which was reported in these columns earlier this year, has now completed secondary trials and demonstrations in Limerick Dock attended by investors and prospective partners.

This follows earlier sea trials of the submersible last February using the Irish Marine Institute’s 65m research vessel,

Celtic Explorer

, which were aimed at testing a number of novel operating features.

One such is a new intelligent vehicle navigation guidance and control system that provides fault tolerant thruster control and steering assistance to compensate for marine disturbances while optimising the vehicle’s performance during survey operations over depths down to around 1,000m.

As well as providing a versatile platform for testing new underwater technologies, Rovlatis and its survey sensors also offer many commercial spinoff opportunities, says hopeful MMRC director Dr Daniel Toal.