Navoceano Orders Autonomous Surface Vehicle

The US Naval Oceanographic Office ordered an autonomous surface vehicle for hydrographic surveys (single-beam bathymetry and side-scan sonar imaging) and water quality sampling (CTD and transmissometer) operations. Seafloor Systems Inc. here was awarded the contract by the Navy to provide an operational prototype of the hydrographic unmanned surface craft (HUSCy) in support of unmanned hydrographic survey programs. HUSCy was developed with SeaRobotics Corp. as an alternative to costly and complex AUVs and is capable of up to 20 hours of sustained operation.