Bibby HydroMap has completed testing of an autonomous unmanned survey vessel developed by iXblue at Innogy’s 576MW Gwynt Y Mor offshore wind farm off the coast of north Wales.
The eight-metre DriX vessel, which underwent a five-day trial, can carry out hydrographic and geophysical surveys and aid positioning of underwater vehicles.
It was fitted with a Teledyne RESON SeaBat IDH T50 multibeam echosounder that conducted bathymetry at speeds greater than eight knots, Bibby said.
QPS’s Qimera Live was also on running board DriX but and controlled by staff on a support vessel in order to download the echosounder data.
Bibby said the data was processed in real-time from the support vessel, with little extra work needed onshore.
Bibby HydroMap operations manager Tom Davenport said: “DriX has so far exceeded our expectations in terms of data quality and performance, and we are delighted to be able to pass this level of quality on to our clients.
“The level of manoeuvrability both in open water and when in close proximity to fixed structures enables excellent productivity, dramatically reducing acquisition time.
“Being able to rapidly deploy DriX anywhere in the world will let us meet our clients’ requirements on short notice, whilst simultaneously reducing HSE risk and improving output.”
Image: Bibby HydroMap
Bibby trials autonomous probe
By EBS