Page 38: of Marine Technology Magazine (November 2005)

38 MTR November 2005

Since 2001, the Royal Norwegian Navy (RNoN) Mine

Warfare Flotilla has used HUGIN autonomours under water vehicles (AUVs) in a number of military operations around Europe. A dedicated military system, HUGIN 1000, was delivered to the Flotilla in January 2004. The

AUV is operated from a RNoN mine hunter, and has been deployed in NATO's Immediate Reaction Force

MCMFORNORTH from October 2004. Various types of operations have been performed, ranging from route surveys to covert mine reconnaissance and Rapid

Environmental Assessment (REA) missions.

Equipped with side scan or synthetic aperture sonar, multibeam echo sounder, and a state of the art integrated inertial navigation system, the HUGIN AUVs provide high quality, high resolution imagery and bathymetry with excellent position accuracy. A proven launch and recovery system allows safe and efficient operation in high sea states. In parallel with the use of the HUGIN 1000 system in the RNoN, a new version with an improved capability is being developed. Lessons learned during four years of operational military use of HUGIN vehicles will help form the next generation, called HUGIN 1000-MR.

The RNoN recently placed an order with Kongsberg

Maritime for such as system, for delivery in 2006.

From the start of the HUGIN AUV program in the early 1990s, a dual use strategy has been followed where technologies and solutions have been developed for both the military and the civilian market. HUGIN has been developed jointly by the Norwegian Defence Research

Establishment (FFI) and Kongsberg Maritime. A total of 10 vehicles have been built or are under production.

The HUGIN 3000 vehicles have enjoyed success in the com- mercial survey industry over the past eight years - the accumulated billed survey distance exceeds 50,000 km. Survey companies in Norway, USA, and The Netherlands currently own and operate HUGIN vehicles around the world. On the military side, the Royal

Norwegian Navy Mine Warfare Flotilla has operated

HUGIN vehicles since 2001. In response to a NATO ini- tiative to accelerate national force goals, the RNoN in

January 2003 instructed FFI to deliver a pre-production military version of HUGIN for MCM and REA opera- tions. The vehicle, HUGIN 1000, was delivered in

January 2004 and started operations shortly thereafter.

Before the dedicated military HUGIN 1000 AUV was delivered, the test and development platform HUGIN I was made available to the RNoN on several occasions. A permanent installation of the infrastructure necessary to run full-capability HUGIN missions from the mine hunter KNM Karmøy was completed in the summer of 2002. The limitations of the aging HUGIN I vehicle (short endurance, COTS survey sensors, etc) notwith- standing, this increased the Navy's understanding of AUV operations, and of the strengths and weaknesses of the civilian HUGIN versions. Thus, the Navy was able to assist in the specification of the HUGIN 1000 based on actual experience.

Operations

On several occasions in 2002 and 2003, KNM Karmøy performed route surveys in key areas around Norway. This was combined with testing of the HUGIN infrastructure and training of key personnel onboard the mine hunter.

Bathymetric maps with sub-meter resolution were pro- duced using data from the

Kongsberg EM3000 multi-beam echo sounder onboard HUGIN I, and a low-cost side scan sonar from Sonar Equipment Services provided seabed imagery.

HUGIN played a role in an early

CDE (Concept Development and

Experimentation) operation in the preparatory phase of the Northern

Light 03 NATO exercise. The objective was to survey a corridor

Lessons Learned

Military Ops with Hugin AUVs

Detail of EM3000 bathymetry data transferred in real time from

HUGIN 1000 in Norway to

Norfolk, VA. The gaps are caused by drop-outs in the acoustic data link from HUGIN. Note the near- perfect match between the real- time bathymetry contours (grey) and the 10-m contours from an earlier surface survey.

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