Page 48: of Marine Technology Magazine (September 2023)

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Valepor

Totnes, Devon, UK

President/CEO: Matthew Quartley # of Employees: 112 www.valeport.co.uk

Valeport is a manufacturer of oceanographic and hydro- land’s South West coast, the new technique is a collaboration graphic instruments. Based in the UK, the privately owned, of Valeport and HydroSurv, working with the University of independent family business designs, manufactures and ser- Plymouth and Natural England. vices its own underwater measuring equipment. Valeport has The trial builds on the concept of the acoustic re? ectivity a philosophy of keeping development and manufacturing of of seagrass providing information to characterize submerged products in-house, which allows it to retain complete control aquatic vegetation. A full-stack solution consisting of a Va- over all aspects of its product range. Valeport is known for its leport VA500 altimeter installed onto a HydroSurv REAV-28 high accuracy sensor technology. Highlights of 2023 include: Uncrewed Surface Vessel (USV), speci? cally developed for

The SWiFT Deep CTD is the latest in Valeport’s range of this project, provides a platform to survey seagrass sites. A

SWiFT pro? lers for CTD measurements to depths of 6,000m. large, validated signal library and deep learning algorithm, de-

Offering increased versatility and no compromise on accu- veloped by the University of Plymouth, deciphers the survey racy, the new SWiFT Deep CTD has been designed with the data to predict seagrass distribution. The data is visualized and intention of a seamless work? ow and offers the highest qual- interpreted within a cloud application created by HydroSurv. ity CTD pro? les in a compact, robust and portable package. The USV platform facilitates accurate repeat surveys that can

The new pro? ler provides survey-grade sensor technology, be compared to monitor temporal changes in seagrass cover- coupled with Bluetooth wireless technology, a rechargeable age for the planning of protection and regeneration projects battery and an integral GNSS module to geo-locate each pro? le. at biodiversity-rich worksites. The full solution was success-

In addition, the SWiFT Deep CTD provides computed sa- fully demonstrated to project stakeholders for the ? rst time last linity, density and sound velocity, using the UNESCO inter- year, and complements traditional diver surveys to cover much national standard algorithm and Chen and Millero equation. larger areas and allows rapid re-survey work as required.

Data can be downloaded wirelessly, and instantly shared in The central component of the USV’s payload is a Valeport industry standard data formats. VA500 altimeter. Valeport undertook custom ? rmware modi-

The new SWiFT Deep CTD features Valeport’s signature ? cations to the VA500, ensuring low noise and high-quality magnetic switch ring. The switch ring is easy to operate even acoustic pro? les sampling at up to 10Hz. Designed for under- with cold hands, it simply turns through 90 degrees and clicks water positioning, the VA500 altimeter is typically installed on into position. With LED status for GNSS, battery and commu- autonomous, remotely-operated or towed underwater vehicles nications, the user-friendly end cap delivers fully automated to provide precise measurement of the altitude from the seabed. data transfer with no user input required. The SWiFT Deep Using advanced digital signal processing techniques, the VA500

CTD is constructed from titanium and the CTD sensors are effectively ? lters out ambient noise and focuses on signal returns. housed in a strong acetal sensor guard. With an operational Where the standard VA500 altimeter receives multiple sig- battery life of up to ? ve days and the convenience of USB nal echoes and must determine which echo corresponds to charging, problematic battery changes are a thing of the past. the seabed, the customised instrument used in this project

Valeport technology is part of an ongoing collaborative proj- provides the full echo response. Subsequently, all measured ect to develop a new, non-invasive method to measure and echoes, along with their strength and sharpness, are further monitor seagrass biomass on the seabed. Trialed around Eng- analyzed in the processing algorithm. 48 September/October 2023

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