The C-Worker 5 unmanned surface vehicle (USV) has carried out a hydrographic survey in the Bering Sea, off Alaska, ASV Global announced on 30 August.
Conducted in cooperation with TerraSond, the survey saw the C-Worker 5 operate alongside TerraSond’s Q105 survey ship on a 36 day mission. The USV ran parallel survey lines to the Q105, completing 2275 nautical miles of survey lines. Both vessels ran multi-beam sonars and simultaneously towed side scan sonars.
The C-Worker 5 was operated using ASV Global’s ASView control system from a control station on the Q105 vessel. ASView used exported survey lines from the TerraSond planning system to autonomously execute an accurate survey with minimal human intervention. The USV’s colour and thermal camera feeds and AIS collision avoidance system were monitored to ensure navigational safety, with radar overwatch provided by the Q105.
The deployment was a follow-on from a proof of concept operation carried out between TerraSond and ASV Global in August 2015 during which an ASV platform became the first USV to update US nautical charts for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Thomas Chance, chairman, ASV Global, said: ‘The C-Worker 5 has proven itself as a reliable, weather resistant solution to increasing survey efficiency. The ASV covered up to 130nm per day, doubling the coverage of the Q105 survey vessel. In addition to this, the C-Worker 5 was able to survey shallow waters that the Q105 was not able to reach.’
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