Flanders Marine Institute in Belgium Takes Delivery of a Gavia AUV

Teledyne Gavia announced that it has completed the sale and recent Sea Acceptance Testing of a Gavia AUV to the Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ) in Oostende, Belgium. The VLIZ Gavia is rated to 1,000m depth in a low logistics form factor and includes an array of scientific instruments to meet current and future VLIZ research requirements. The modular nature of the GAVIA AUV allows sensors to be added as mission requirements dictate.

The VLIZ Gavia is configured for diverse research applications and includes an iXblue INS, coupled with a Teledyne RD Instruments Pathfinder ADCP up/down for highly accurate navigation and current profiling, Klein 3500 side scan with bathymetry, camera system, Gavia Science Bay module housing an iXblue GAPS transponder for use with an existing VLIZ owned USBL system, Aanderaa dissolved oxygen, Wetlabs ECO puck, and RBR CTD. A SUNA nitrate sensor and Pro-Oceanus Mini CO2 are mounted externally as required. A Gavia Portable Launch and Recovery cage was also supplied for safer LARS procedures with a nose recovery system. 

Operational Capabilities

Wieter Boone, Head of the VLIZ  Marine Robotics Centre said, “We were looking for a versatile system to operate both in shallow and deep areas. The Gavia stood out as a low logistic solution with a large selection of sensor options. The addition of the Gavia AUV will significantly increase the operational capabilities of the centre in scientific campaigns and in collaborative projects with partners from the blue economy. “

The Gavia AUV is an autonomous sensor platform that is user configurable by the addition of one or more sensor, navigation, or battery modules utilising a unique twist-lock system. The Gavia is a fully low logistics modular system designed to be operated from vessels of opportunity and has the greatest depth rating of any vehicle in its class.

About Flanders Marine Institute

For 20 years, the Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ) has been a coordination and information platform, a focal point for marine and coastal research, which also serves as an international contact point for marine science. Since 2017, the institute has initiated, promoted and executed innovative and multidisciplinary marine research in collaboration with or complementary to Flemish and international marine research groups and industry. VLIZ website: www.vliz.be

About Teledyne Gavia

The Teledyne Gavia AUV provides turnkey survey solutions to customers undertaking a variety of tasks for military, commercial and scientific applications. The Gavia AUV can carry an array of sensors and custom payload modules that make it perfect for any research, monitoring or surveillance task where autonomy, cost and ease of deployment matters.

The SeaRaptor AUV is the company’s new deepwater AUV, capable of surveying in depths to 6000m. The AUV is fully customizable for a variety of deepwater survey tasks including seafloor mapping, search and recovery, and marine archaeology. Teledyne Gavia’s manufacturing facility comprises a 1,440 square metre building in Kopavogur, Iceland, with research, engineering, production, and sea trial facilities on Iceland’s North Atlantic coast.   For more information, visit Teledyne Gavia’s brand page at www.teledynemarine.com/gavia.

Images courtesy of VLIZ Marine Robotics Centre