The purchase is part of the ongoing development of a fully-automated inspection and survey solution which will provide Swire Seabed the ability to conduct different types of autonomous inspections and survey operations that meet the diverse clients’ requirements. These requirements can vary from the duration of operations, length of subsea pipeline and area of seabed to be inspected or mapped.
The Swire Seabed Hugin’s payload sensor suite will include Kongsberg Maritime’s HISAS 1032 Synthetic Aperture Sonar, EM2040 Multibeam Echosounder and CathX Ocean Colour Camera and Laser. In addition, the Hugin will also be equipped with Kongsberg Maritime’s automatic pipeline tracking which allows the AUV to track alongside or above a pipeline to conduct survey and inspections tasks.
The Hugin is containerised and designed for simple mobilisation, enabling Swire Seabed to swiftly respond to client requirements. The Hugin will measure approximately 5.2 metres in length, with a diameter of 0.875 metres, and have high endurance with all sensors operating. Flexible and self-contained, the system is capable of performing autonomous inspections on subsea assets and seabed mapping while simultaneously acquiring, classifying, interpreting and reporting data.
“The acquisition of our first AUV is a significant milestone for Swire Seabed as it demonstrates our long term commitment to go beyond current industry needs and gear ourselves to meet future market demands through innovation and technology. We believe that the future of inspections and subsea survey is indeed autonomous and we are excited to be at the forefront of an evolving industry,” says Arvid Pettersen, CEO, Swire Seabed.
In October 2018, Swire Seabed completed the first commercial autonomous inspection of offshore pipeline systems for Equinor using Kongsberg Maritime’s Hugin AUV and, shortly after in December 2018, Swire Seabed was awarded a Frame Agreement with Equinor for provision of offshore survey services.
Source: Company Press Release
