3 Unmanned Surface Vessels Operated Simultaneously

Ocean Infinity, the seabed survey and ocean exploration company, will be supporting its partner Guardian Geomatics on an extensive hydrographic project for energy company Shell. The project, which is planned to commence in June 2019, will be run from Ocean Infinity’s ‘Seabed Constructor’ vessel and will collect hydrographic data over an area in excess of 800 square kilometres using up to three Ocean Infinity unmanned surface vessels (USVs).

Operating Multiple USVs

Oliver Plunkett, Ocean Infinity’s CEO, said: “Our ability to utilize multiple USVs simultaneously to collect data across such a vast area, in such a short space of time, and at the same time so materially reducing the environmental impact of the project compared to other service providers, delivers for our clients a truly unique and high-value solution.”

Unmanned Surface Vessels

Steve Duffield, Guardian Geomatics’ commercial director, said: “By using unmanned surface vessels instead of a conventional vessel, Shell is able to reduce the onsite data acquisition time by a factor of 3. Using Guardian’s Seabed-Cloud technology the data is able to be presented to the users with a much quicker turnaround. The fuel usage on the project is estimated to be reduced by a factor 10.”

Guardian Geomatics is an Australian marine survey company based in Perth WA, servicing the offshore oil & gas and renewable markets, with a footprint across Australia, PNG, NZ and the broader Asia Pacific region. Ocean Infinity acquired a 25% stake in Guardian in March 2019.