Page 42: of Marine Technology Magazine (September 2020)

Subsea Residency are on a path to achieving that.” work down to 450 m, says de Jong. In addition, a 24 m vessel is being designed, targeting 2,500 m depth deployment with a

On-board remote residency new “mid-range” eROV able to perform intervention work. The

Operating an ROV from a USV is on the target list for Fugro. new hydrodynamically designed eROVs have been designed

It says that, by the end of this year, it will be the ? rst company and developed by Fugro and the ? rst two units are being built in in the world to provide offshore subsea inspections via USVs their ROV factory in Singapore, with delivery due in October. and ROVs that are operated from onshore Remote Operations

Centers (ROCs); including ROVs and autonomous underwa- Delivering ROVs with USVs ter vehicles (AUVs) deployed from USVs. As part of its new fully electric eROV design, Fugro is mov-

Being able to use a remotely operated USV, ROV inspection ing navigational intelligence to the vehicle to facilitate more solution to cover, according to Fugro, potentially 75% of to- ef? cient piloting and to prepare for future tetherless opera- day’s inspection scope has the obvious safety, ef? ciency and tions. Increasing the level of autonomy will aid vehicle con- sustainability bene? ts. It could also enable operations within trol when deployed from an USV, with the USV acting as a the 500 m exclusion zone, due to the lower threat posed by a surface gateway, when needed. Alternative scenarios could 12-tonne vessel compared with a full size ROV support ves- involve a development that enables the upload of a mission sel, says Ivar de Josselin de Jong, Global Director for Remote and let it execute the task, says de Jong. This could potentially

Inspection, Fugro. support ? eld resident scenarios with the USV acting as a taxi

The ? rm has a strategic partnership with USV builder SEA-

KIT, from whom it has ordered its ? rst two 12m vessels; one due to enter operations in Australia by the year end and the oth-

Fugro has Remote Operation Centres from er coming into the North Sea early next year. The 12 m “Fugro which to operate its ROVs and USVs.

Blue Essence” vessels will host a new “Fugro Blue Volta” high-

Image from Fugro power inspection eROV (electric ROV) able to do inspection 42 September 2020

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