Page 69: of Marine Technology Magazine (September 2023)

OCEAN ALPHA www.OceanAlpha.com

OceanAlpha Group is a commer- cial unmanned surface vehicle (USV) company. It has grown from a single small offce in 2010 to a workforce of over 569 employees today, with more than 200 R&D engineers and 430+ pieces of USV related patents. Ocean-

Alpha’s business involves inland & offshore surveying, environmental

MAPPEM GEOPHYSICS NORBIT monitoring, marine engineering, se- www.mappem-geophysics.com https://norbit.com/subsea/ curity & rescue, transportation, and

MAPPEM is a spinoff from the Uni- NORBIT Subsea is part of the NOR- recreation. versity of Brest (France) that offers a BIT ASA, an industrial corporation

To support humans in getting closer unique perspective into the marine sub- with companies in Subsea, Intelligent to the ocean with lower cost, high- surface using tailor-made electromag-

Traffc Systems and Original Design er effciency and enhanced safety, netic instruments and expertise forged Manufacturing of industrial electronics.

OceanAlpha serves professionals along the coast of Brittany, France. NORBIT Subsea designs and develops from various felds with integrated

MAPPEM’s focus is on marine elec- wideband multibeam sonars for hydro-

USV solutions. Its products are infu- tromagnetic site surveys and investiga- graphic and forward-looking applica- encing data acquisition, life-saving, tions. After several years of academic tions. Its solutions are based on the latest auto-piloting and swarm controlling research, the MAPPEM team contin- in analog and digital signal processing in the marine sector. A recent sea- ues to research and develop different and our products provide wide coverage bed survey featured a feet of fve electromagnetic systems adapted to the monitoring combined with high sensi- 7m L25C USVs was deployed. Each marine environment, providing new tivity and accuracy.

USV was equipped with an automatic and alternative subsurface information. NORBIT Subsea launched its latest lifter, multi-beam echosounder, IMU,

MAPPEM’s original, perpetually re- fully active stabilized multibeam sonar and sound velocity profler. The USVs system in April 2023. Building on the were remotely controlled using coop- fned, deep-towed marine electrical re- sistivity tomography system continues WBMS platform, the new “iWBMSh erative control software, allowing for to reap praise from the industry because Stabilized” system was launched at the mission planning, autonomous navi- it can image to a depth of <40 m and NORBIT Subsea Global Partner Day gation, and data collection.

can see where other systems can’t. For event held in Southampton, UK prior

OceanAlpha’s cooperative surveying example, it can distinguish subsurface to the Ocean Business 2023 exhibition. technology for USVs liberates techni- heterogeneities (rock types, porosity, This cylindrical high-resolution curved cal personnel from simple and repeti- cavities, boulders) and images beneath array bathymetric system is designed tive tasks. This innovative operational acoustic masks, helping to decipher the to function effectively in extreme op- approach offers a range of benefts, in- lateral extents of shallow gas and its ori- erational environments with high vessel cluding cost-effectiveness, effciency, gin (i.e., geologic, biogenic). The adapt- motion. It offers rapid mobilization at safety, accuracy, and ease of equip- ed (3D) object detection system can im- any location and time, providing active ment replacement.

age to a depth of <7 m and has a swath roll, pitch and yaw stabilized bathym-

The USV cooperative control tech- of 5 m. MAPPEM has recently complet- etry. Additionally, it delivers standard nology has decreased the labor inten- ed a cable route survey off the coast of imagery and backscatter outputs, ensur- sity in marine surveying operations, the Netherlands. Using the object detec- ing the highest quality survey data per- enhanced operational safety, and low- tion system, the aim of the project was formance. The iWBMSh is a compact, ered operating costs. This technology to locate the non-ferrous UXO within high-resolution broadband multibeam is particularly well-suited for rapidly the potential cable corridor. At project sonar solution that includes a curved and accurately acquiring extensive completion, the system detected and lo- array and tightly integrated Applanix seabed mapping and other data within calized the non-ferrous UXO, helping to OceanMaster GNSS/ INS, specifcally a short time frame.

mitigate the risk and identify the appro- designed for demanding environments.

priate routing for the buried cable.

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