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MAROFF-2-Maritim virksomhet og offsh-2

ACCESS-AUV: Active towed docking stations for survey and sea-bed resident Autonomous Underwater Vehicles

Alternative title: ACCESS-AUV: Aktive tauede dokkingstasjoner for havbunnsundersøkelse- og havbunnbaserte autonome undervannsfarkoster

Awarded: NOK 9.1 mill.

Underwater robots are steadily becoming the tool of excellence in ocean survey and inspection tasks. Powered by batteries with limited capacity, these robots are typically operated from conventional ships which represent the highest contributor to costs, accidents, and greenhouse emissions. More recently, seabed resident robots are becoming commercially available, which represent a tremendous market potential to lower the costs and risks compared to remotely controlled robots deployed from ships. Seabed resident robots still need a ship in the deployment phase, in case of need of maintenance, or if they need to be relocated to a site beyond their own operational range. Operations with autonomous robots launched from ships normally can only be undertaken at calm or moderate sea wave conditions, whereas rougher sea wave conditions are not unusual in the North Sea, Norwegian Sea and Barents Sea. uSEA has developed a concept of fully unmanned operation that will allow operation in rough sea wave conditions. The primary objective of the ACCESS-AUV project is to demonstrate the feasibility of a new type of docking system with power and data transfer capabilities that will enable the operation of underwater robots from surface robots in rough wave conditions. The project outcomes will be used for the detailing, construction and safe operation of such a system in industrial applications. Industries that utilize critical marine and underwater infrastructures such as oil and gas, offshore wind, aquaculture, subsea telecommunication and power cables will benefit from this innovation during their project development phases when they undertake surveys of the seabed, and throughout their operational lives, when they need periodic and/or emergency inspection of that infrastructure. This innovation will also help aquaculture, industrial fishing, environmental monitoring and marine research get access to affordable and clean data of the underwater environment. Key components of the system are developed and prototypes are tested as part of the project. Summer of 2020 the concept was demonstrated at sea. Last part of 2021 and beginning of 2022 the prototypes were improved.

The outcomes of this project are critical knowledge, skills and key components for more affordable, leaner and cleaner marine and underwater data acquisition technologies. The project partners will leverage on the foundations laid by this project to industrialize such system. This innovation will also have a direct contribution to the achievement of four of UN Sustainable Development Goals, namely Zero hunger, Affordable and clean energy, Climate action and Life below water. At national level, this innovation will contribute with increasing competitiveness of all industries that utilize the ocean space, transferring knowledge between the R&D community and the industry, keeping Norway at the forefront of development and operation of unmanned maritime systems and improving HSE in the Norwegian waters.

Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) are steadily becoming the tool of excellence in subsea survey and inspection tasks. Powered by batteries with limited capacity, AUVs are typically operated from conventional support vessels which represent the highest contributor to costs, accidents, and CO2 emissions. More recently, seabed resident AUVs are becoming commercially available, which represent a tremendous market potential to lower the costs and HSE risks compared to conventional ROVs. Seabed resident AUVs still need a support vessel in the deployment phase, in case of need of maintenance, or if they need to be relocated to a site beyond their own operational range. Conventional AUV operations using support vessels and classic Launch and Recovery Systems (LARS) have difficulties operating in sea states 4 and above, a quite common condition in the North Sea, Norwegian Sea and Barents Sea. uSEA has developed a concept of fully unmanned operation that will allow operation above sea state 4. The primary objective of the ACCESS-AUV project is to demonstrate the feasibility of a new type of active towed docking station with power and data transfer capabilities that will enable the operation of AUVs from unmanned vessels in extended weather and sea state conditions. The project outcomes will be used for the detailing, construction and safe operation of such system in industrial applications. Industries that utilize critical marine and underwater infrastructure such as oil and gas, offshore wind, aquaculture, subsea telecommunication and power cables will benefit from this innovation during their project development phases, when they undertake surveys of the seabed, and throughout their operational lives, when they need periodic and/or emergency inspection of that infrastructure. This innovation will also help aquaculture, industrial fishing, environmental monitoring and marine research get access to affordable and clean data of the underwater environment.

Funding scheme:

MAROFF-2-Maritim virksomhet og offsh-2