Unmanned vessel to survey Wadden Sea
Underwater survey company Deep announced that one of its vessels will be equipped with a Sea Machines SM300 system for unmanned hydrographic sea surveillance.
With the installation of survey sonars and hydrophones, the unmanned vessel will conduct its first operation in the Wadden Sea. All will be controlled from Deep’s office in Amsterdam.
Unmanned
Deep BV is a survey company based in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, specializing in hydrography, geophysics and oceanography. Deep's areas of operation include inshore waterways, harbours, coastal zones and offshore areas.
Last year, Deep was the first company to conduct remote surveys without surveyors on board in The Netherlands. These early missions included a captain and crew on board. Installation of the SM300 aboard Deep’s vessel represents the company’s innovative plans to move towards more efficient remote survey operations.
New standard
The SM300 autonomy system has been developed by Boston-based Sea Machines offering a new standard for full-mission vessel control. The standard has become familiar in the automotive sector and is now being introduced in the maritime sector. It enables personnel to focus less on routine navigational tasks, and more on surveillance.
With the SM300, surveyors can remotely monitor and command multiple autonomous vessels from a shipboard or shore-based center located anywhere with network connectivity.
Multi-beam surveys
From its office in Amsterdam, Deep operators will command and control their autonomous vessel and all on-board payloads from its shore side Survey Control Room. This control room has been equipped to facilitate several multi-beam surveys simultaneously. Deep will then transfer all collected data from the vessel to the control room via 4G and satellite connection.
