A joint Applanix / Fugro solution for improved subsea positioning.

With global offshore oilfield exploration's continued move towards deepwater development, the technologies that allow ROVs (Remotely Operated Vehicles) and AUVs (Autonomous Underwater Vehicles) to efficiently carry out precision surveys, and subsea maintenance tasks, are becoming significantly more important. 

As competitiveness increases, successful subcontracting requires greater efficiencies than those currently offered by traditional subsea navigation and positioning technologies, such as acoustics and custom inertial sensors.

Having pioneered the commercial off-the-shelf market for aided inertial technology, which included the industry-standard POS MV multibeam motion compensation system, Applanix has been eager to prove the capabilities of its technology in a deepwater environment. In May 2003, a joint venture between Applanix and Fugro culminated in a successful series of sea trials in the Gulf of Mexico, investigating the deepwater capabilities of a tightly coupled inertial navigation system.

The unit was installed on a client ROV and launched from a mothership. With all systems initialized, the ROV was taken to a depth of > 2000 meters, leveling out a few meters above the seabed to carry out a series of deepwater construction tasks. The testing phase lasted several weeks during which time the technology was thoroughly assessed in the demanding environment found at that depth. The ROV was able to successfully complete all the assigned tasks using very accurate navigation, position and attitude information supplied by the onboard Applanix aided inertial technology.

 The outcome of the sea trials proved the innovative concept could deliver enhanced positioning data, with only minimal requirements for external aiding technology. It also demonstrated the system can be deployed on a typical work-class ROV and therefore is robust in both its physical and data acquisition capabilities.

Although a number of ROV/AUV systems are currently in commercial use, further development using aided inertial technology, has until now been primarily restricted to one-off examples and prototype designs. However, the successful trials in the Gulf of Mexico proved a significant step towards realizing the economic potential of commercially-available off-the-shelf inertial technology when used in deepwater applications.

The Applanix/Fugro system's reduced operational logistics, combined with extremely fast data update rate, can effectively overcome many difficulties associated with deepwater precise positioning. Seen as a major development in positioning systems, it is now available to the marine industry for the ROV market, where improved subsea positioning is essential for successful deepwater operations.

POS MV is a tightly-coupled system using Applanix unique approach to Inertially-Aided Real-Time Kinematic (IARTK) technology. The user-friendly, turnkey system provides accurate attitude, heading, heave, position, and velocity data, representing the latest in state-of-the-art inertial/GPS technology. The system maintains positioning accuracy under the most demanding conditions, regardless of vessel dynamics. With its high data update rate, POS MV delivers a full six degrees-of-freedom position and orientation solution.

POS MV is designed for use with multibeam sonar systems, enabling adherence to IHO (International Hydrographic Survey) standards on sonar swath widths of greater than ± 75 degrees under all dynamic conditions.

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