Kongsberg Maritime has launched the next generation of its advanced HUGIN Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV), the HUGIN Endurance. The new underwater robotic vehicle features an enhanced operational duration of approximately 15 days, allowing it to undertake extended survey and inspection missions far from base without the support of a mothership.
The new version of the HUGIN has been equipped with Kongsberg’s Maritime Broadband Radio (MBR) communications system, allowing it to surface and rapidly share large quantities of data with any suitably equipped installation, such as another vessel, shore station or a wind turbine fitted with an MBR antenna. Compared to operations from both surface vessels and other AUVs, the reduction in the need for surface support lessens the carbon footprint for commercial activities, and still allows the platform to retain unrivalled data resolution and accuracy. HUGIN Endurance is also ideal for defence applications requiring persistence, including long range military survey, wide area mine detection, classification and identification, and patrolling a choke point listening for submarines.
The HUGIN Endurance can be equipped with a wide array of sensors, including the high-resolution KONGSBERG HiSAS synthetic aperture sonar, a wide swath multibeam echo sounder, sub-bottom profiler and magnetometer, as well as other sensors that detect parameters such as methane, current and turbidity. This proven portfolio of hydroacoustic sensors, communications and other technologies, combined with extensive operation range, makes HUGIN Endurance ideal for advanced situational awareness scanning as well as mapping and inspection activities for far-field applications such as offshore wind farms.
Richard Mills, Vice President of Marine Robotics Sales at Kongsberg Maritime, commented: “We are proud to launch HUGIN Endurance, which represents a step change in AUV operations. Teaming long endurance with large area coverage capabilities allows a single AUV to map areas up to 1,100 square kilometres in a single mission – a target impossible until now. With its unprecedented long-range capability and advanced communications, HUGIN Endurance sets a new standard for autonomous subsea mapping and inspection, yielding unmatched operational flexibility, efficiency and sustainability.”
