Page 38: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (August 2026)

AUTONOMY | PART 3 of 3 | COMMERCIAL VEHICLES

Greater vehicle sophistication is pushing surveys and offshore energy inspections further towards autonomy.

By Wendy Laursen

XOCEAN acts as a global ocean data delivery partner, providing full scope geophysical, geotechnical and environmental data.

This HUGIN AUV can operate at depths of up to 6,000 meters, collecting high-resolution data.

Source: Jørgen Ramse Vadla

Source: Midgard Infra hen the Norwegian O? shore Directorate close to shore.

set its new HUGIN autonomous underwa- Another example of the growing sophistication in autono- ter vehicle (AUV) to work in June, there mous systems that Lewis describes is OceanAlpha’s new was a moment’s re? ection on the fact that 24-meter-class V180 USV–ROV system which is designed

Wdeep sea areas have actually been mapped to support deep and o? shore subsea operations. It integrates a since the 1800s. In the early days, simple weights were used DP2-enabled o? shore USV with a work-class ROV for subsea to measure water depth and give the ? rst indications of subsea inspection, maintenance, and repair missions. The USV features structures and seabed morphology. There have been substan- a dual-moonpool con? guration and an open deck layout suitable tial technological developments since then. for ? exible deployment of a wide range of mission modules.

Philip Lewis, Director of Research at Intelatus, has been The system supports subsea operations at depths of up to analyzing the latest AUV and unmanned surface vessel (USV) 3,000 meters and o? ers an endurance of up to 30 days, while developments in the o? shore energy sector, including the in- allowing rapid transition between deep-sea engineering, sub- crease in data-as-a-service deals for speci? c projects rather sea surveying, and oceanographic research missions. Addi- than long-term robotics ownership. For example, XOCEAN tionally, operators can control both the USV and the deployed acts as a global ocean data delivery partner, providing full ROV from an onshore control center.

scope geophysical, geotechnical and environmental data to Saipem is hitting the 3,000-meter mark with its most ad- support o? shore development and operations. vanced AUV, Flat? sh, which has now undergone functional

Simplicity is also making way for more complex, project-fo- acceptance tests with Petrobras. FlatFish has been developed cused solutions. “In commercial applications, if you're deploying as part of Saipem’s underwater robotics program aimed at a small system, it may only be able to do one function, let's say industrializing a family of underwater robots capable of per- bathymetric survey. You may need two or three passes to com- forming complex, autonomous inspection tasks.

plete the survey, along with other vehicles to get the complete Throughout the tests campaign, Flat? sh executed multiple picture. Now, some of the bigger, more capable USVs that are fully autonomous inspection missions including structure and available can deploy an ROV as well, so they can do the bathy- pipeline inspections, cathodic protection measurements and metric hydrographic survey as well as the geophysical survey. wall-thickness assessments. Following the positive tests out-

You can do more with one vehicle, and you can use it to extend come, Petrobras has been able to grant approval to proceed the range of manned vessels while reducing costs and emissions.” with the ? nal phase of the project which aims at the full imple-

He cites Fugro’s Blue Essence USVs which have been used mentation of FlatFish in the ultra-deep waters of Brazil. alongside traditional crewed vessels. They can act as a "force Navigation ability is critical to these advances, and Sweden’s multiplier" o? shore or handle survey tasks in shallower water Njord Survey has chosen Sonardyne navigation technology 38 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News • August 2026

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