Voyis has developed a new payload that is designed for integration into the L3Harris IVER4 AUV (autonomous underwater vehicle). The payload was created for a project funded by Canada’s Ocean Supercluster that involves automated inspection of underwater pipelines.
The technologies involved in this new payload include:
Voyis Recon LS AUV Module: consolidated AUV module housing Voyis’ compact dynamic laser scanner used to capture high-resolution 3D point cloud data. Combined with Voyis’ 4K imaging system with lighting to capture crisp, evenly illuminated stills images with real-time light leveling and colour correction.
L3Harris IVER4 900 AUV: new 300-meter workhorse system featuring long duration capability, with rechargeable NiMH or Li-Ion battery pack chemistries supporting up to 15-hr+ (NiMH) or 30-hr+ (Li-Ion) run times for extended duration for long ingress/egress missions.
Wavefront Solstice: multi-aperture side-scan sonar, which provides wide swath coverage, at high resolution.
EIVA NaviSuite Software: tools for workflow automation, data acquisition, data fusion, and deep learning-based pipeline tracking, all integrated in an onboard computer.
The Automated Pipeline Inspection Payload for Small AUVs Project, led by Voyis, brings together a consortium including EIVA, L3Harris and Ocean Infinity, to develop a commercial survey payload for portable AUVs to revolutionize the offshore inspection industry.
The ocean floor is home to a growing body of aging critical infrastructure in a corrosive, difficult to access and poorly mapped environment. Much of this infrastructure, which includes pipelines, energy infrastructure, and cables, requires regular inspection that has historically been conducted using slow ROVs deployed on large manned vessels. Whilst large AUVs have been adopted, they share many of the same issues and fail to scale to keep pace with expanding market demands and a shift towards cost efficiency.
Technology advances enabling small, power efficient sensor payloads like Voyis’ Recon LS laser and imaging system, and EIVA’s NaviSuite Deep Learning Onboard Computer have been brought together into a tightly integrated payload for new long-endurance portable AUVs such as the L3H’s IVER4.
This new product increases the speed and quality of remote decision-making processes for surveying subsea assets by delivering higher resolution data on pipeline and anode conditions and processing it in real-time with machine learning algorithms. This will reduce or eliminate the need for personnel to operate in hazardous marine environments. The integration of multiple sensor datasets though data processing and workflow will enable complete automation of pipeline defect identification.
