Page 72: of Marine Technology Magazine (September 2014)

Greensea Systems in- stalled its ROV control system, Balefi re, on a

Saab Seaeye Falcon

DR owned by SeaView

Systems, Inc. SeaView supported NOAA ear- lier this summer in the multibeam survey of several shipwrecks in

Thunderbay National

Marine Sanctuary, Lake

Huron, Michigan. To complete the survey, it was required that the vehicle be able to cor- relate navigation data and multibeam data ac- curately, hold station to allow for close-up cam- era inspection and con- duct automated surveys at constant speeds and planned line spacings.

Balefi re provides for these capabilities and Greensea worked with SeaView to install and test the sys- tem in less than a week in preparation for the survey.

Combined with a FOG-based INS developed by Greensea, the Balefi re control system added autopilots, station keeping, dynamic positioning, autono- mous control modes, path following, mission planning and sensor fusion to the basic Falcon DR ROV system.

Balefi re provides these functions in an operator workspace that gives pilots an intuitive and powerful interface. Green- sea integrated its standard Balefi re product to the Falcon ROV by devel- oping a simple software driver for the

Falcon handbox controller. No modi- fi cations were made to the ROV with the exception of installing the INS. The small Balefi re computer simply inter- faced with the handbox and the topside interface unit of the Falcon.

SeaView completed the survey for

NOAA and delivered quality multi- beam and video data effi ciently and cost effectively with their Falcon sys- tem. “Mission planning and operations were a breeze. Not only does Green- sea’s [Balefi re] control system enhance the effi ciency of the project, it enhances the effi ciency of the ROV by reducing the wear of the thrusters. Integrating the control system will reduce project costs and vehicle maintenance,” said

Geoff Cook, Operations Manager for

SeaView.

Balefi re is the new commercial ROV control system product built on the openSEA software architecture which provides robust ROV automation and a powerful operator workspace. Green- sea provides the Falcon interface as a standard confi guration for Balefi re. www.greenseainc.com

New Products

NOAA Selects

HYPACK, HYSWEEP

HYPACK and HYSWEEP software were selected by NOAA to sup- port fi shery and habitat mapping missions HYPACK supplied fi ve

NOAA Fishery Survey Vessels with the HYPACK and HYSWEEP software solution. The vessel, outfi tted with the Simrad ME70 scientifi c multibeam system on board, is used by NOAA for vari- ous missions to support fi shery and habitat mapping.

The latest version of HYSWEEP includes an interface for the

ME70, for the data collection, and real time visualization of the sonar. The software suite will provide the operator with all the visualization tools included in the

HYPACK and HYSWEEP software.

In addition, the new Real Time

Cloud provides the operator detailed views of the seafl oor during the transect. This program will be useful for easier feature detection and categorization, sys- tem calibration and verifi cation, and data quality control.

Once data is collected, process- ing will be done through the

HYSWEEP MBMAX64 software.

On board the vessel, the scien- tifi c crew will be able to analyze the data set shortly after data collection. www.hypack.com

Image: Hypac k (Photo cour tesy of Greensea Sys tems)

Balefi re for SeaView ROV

September 2014 72 MTR

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