Page 48: of Marine Technology Magazine (November 2019)

Tech Files he Sea Ox and the smaller Sea Otter, both de- veloped by C-2 Innovations, have a maximum depth of 100m and can operate autonomously

Tor under remote control. The rugged Sea Ox, which recently survived 6ft surf and 2kn tidal stream in Californian user trials, has a wet range of 10NM, a dry range of 24NM and can conduct station keeping to collect longer term static environmental observations, or observations at discrete points.

The crawler has a low center of gravity and its large working deck has access to vehicle power and data, allowing a large variety of sensors to be integrated or carried as independent sensors. Past payloads have in- cluded cameras, forward looking sonar, CTD, sidescan, penetrometers, vibracores, and turbidity sensors, as well as EM technologies towed behind on a non-me- tallic sled.

Meet the

This summer, C-2 Innovations hosed a Sea Ox dem- onstration in Jacksonville, Fla. attended by MTR and representatives from USACE Jacksonville and vari- ous survey, environmental and dredging companies.

Attendees were given an opportunity to pilot the

Sea Ox vehicle in and out of the water using the hand- held controller. Three beach pro? les were run using GPS autonomy, and later a state

An amphibious crawling vehicle is de- pro? le line was run. The Sea Ox, which signed to prevent people from having to can pressure sensor based bathymet- work in the dangers of the surf zone and ric data, was also equipped with a allow operations to continue in hours of

Nortek ADCP and AML turbidity and sound speed sensors.

darkness and in more inclement weather

The vehicle can be used in autono- conditions.

mous mode using inertial systems or

GPS, and can be driven using RF an- tenna, RF buoy or using a tether. Trialed this summer at ANTX, the inertial sys- tem achieved a misclosure of 3.38m af- ter a 2,813m mission with 44 turns.

C-2 Innovations said Scripps Institu- tion of Oceanography has had one of its vehicles in use for four years, and US-

ACE North Carolina FRF has a contract to purchase one.

Nick Townley, business develop- ment, C-2 Innova- tions, with the

Sea Ox.

Photo: Rob Howard, MTR

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