Page 49: of Offshore Engineer Magazine (Jul/Aug 2024)

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ceaneering solidifed its position as one of the nal inspection of subsea pipeline features. In addition to leaders in AUV tech with signifcant projects commercial applications, Oceaneering has been engaged in in 2024. One of the key highlights includes projects with the U.S. Navy, where the Freedom AUV has its collaboration with TotalEnergies, where been used to evaluate capabilities of the platform for poten-

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Oceaneering’s advanced hybrid AUV/ROV tial future development of a large displacement unmanned system was deployed for subsea inspection and monitor- undersea vehicle (LDUUV) prototype. ing tasks. Late in May 2024, Oceaneering’s Freedom AUV UTEC tested its upgraded Teledyne Gavia AUV offshore concluded the pipeline inspection industrial pilot project Australia earlier in 2024, achieving several milestones – in- in the North Sea, which covered an inspection of over 120 cluding the deepest dive and the frst-time positioning with km of subsea pipelines, resulting in a reduction in time, the new subsea ultra-short baseline (USBL) system, which and emissions, of an estimated 50% compared to existing aids the vehicle inertial navigation system positions. The methods with equivalent quality of the inspection, accord- Gavia AUV is suited for use for reconnaissance surveys, ing to the companies. route surveys for cable and pipeline pre-engineering, site

The Freedom AUV design incorporates a multi-thruster surveys, as well as pipeline and platform inspections. The design which provides six degrees of freedom in vehicle ma- upgrades to the Gavia AUV conducted by UTEC included neuverability. It features onboard adaptive behaviors, devel- the addition of INS/Doppler velocity log (DVL) modules oped to provide additional insights into subsea features. The (PHINS C3 and Pathfnder DVL); battery modules in- onboard autonomous capabilities, together with high speci- creasing mission endurance from six hours to 12; cNode fcation instruments – including a laser scanning system and USBL modules and nose cone enabling USBL tracking, multibeam sonar technology – resulted in a detailed exter- aiding acoustic communications to the AUV and incor-

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JULY/AUGUST 2024 OFFSHORE ENGINEER 49