Page 61: of Marine Technology Magazine (September 2023)

Courtesy Ørsted access to the DFKI’s Maritime Exploration Hall in Bremen. amounts of data that can be sent onshore and processed in real time,” said Frederik Søndergaard Hansen, Program Manager

Ørsted designed, developed and patented an uncrewed sur- and co-inventor of the USV concept. The prototype vessel has face vessel (USV) named Hugin USV for offshore met-ocean been tested in Danish and Norwegian waters and has been measurement campaigns. The USV has a built-in navigation operational during hurricane conditions, where it experienced system, which enables it to travel from shore at various degrees waves up to nine meters in the North Sea. Hugin USV has of autonomy, and it can be controlled both in line-of-sight or also achieved type validation as a ? oating LiDAR system by from a beyond-line-of-sight remote control center. The USV DNV, enabling it to be used for commercial operations related is designed as a generic sensor platform and can collect data to wind farm development. The results are so good that Ørsted on wind conditions, the state of the seabed, and biological and has started a serial production of a new class of USVs. The ecological measurements (among other things), depending on plan is to produce ? ve new USVs by the end of 2023. the chosen sensor instrumentation. The prototype USV was built by the Danish shipbuilder Tuco Marine Group, and the Created by a group of ? ve engineering seniors from the Uni-

USV control system is delivered by the innovative Norwegian versity of Pennsylvania for their capstone project is Popeye company Maritime Robotics AS. “What’s so special about Labs which invented a device which combines AI and video our USV concept is that it can bring our measurement equip- to help a ship’s captain predict anchor drag before it begins. ment to and from our offshore sites without the need for large, During the team’s phone interview with a Greek captain, he specialized support vessels, and, while on site, it can operate brought up the current practice of anchor-watch: the deckhand, autonomously for extended periods of time, measuring large “let’s call him Popeye,” walks every hour all the way to the www.marinetechnologynews.com 61

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