Voyis is proud to be a part of the Covelya group, alongside other admirable companies. Covelya Group companies operate in various sectors within the energy, science, defence and commercial markets.
They develop, manufacture, sell and support instruments, systems, and solutions worldwide.
Today we are happy to introduce you to Sonardyne and discuss how our technologies can work together for efficient seabed inspection and mapping.
Who is Sonardyne?
One of the major players in subsea innovation, Sonardyne has been writing the future of underwater technology for over 50 years.
The 350-strong, UK-based company is committed to new and emerging subsea technologies that provide a competitive edge to marine operations. Their portfolio spans the design and manufacture of underwater acoustic positioning, inertial navigation, wireless communications and sonar technologies, and related services for the offshore energy, defence and science sectors.
Voyis and Sonardyne: Complementary sensors for fast, accurate and efficient subsea inspections
Combining Voyis optical data with Sonardyne’s navigation, tracking and wireless communications know-how means you get more than just pixel perfect images. Your autonomous platforms stay on course. However far they are travelling, you always know where they relative to your surface assets – in shallow or deep. On-demand telemetry delivers actionable information for your underwater inspection campaigns.
It’s a great package. Voyis’ Insight Laser Scanner and Observer Stills Cameras are the ideal optical sensors for subsea inspections. The underwater laser scanner allows users to create digital 3D models of their subsea assets, for a complete visual understanding with highest resolution data.
In addition to that, the stills camera, with real-time image enhancement, produces underwater imagery where the effects of the water medium are entirely removed. This enables the use of standard terrestrial processing algorithms like photogrammetry and machine learning.
As you can see in the image below, captured with Voyis optical sensors, our 3D models provide users with complete situational awareness. In addition to that, our data enables subsea autonomy for eventing detection.
To create 3D or photogrammetry models, all data collected must be properly tagged with a location point. The location data must be extremely reliable, otherwise your software would not be able to identify the correct position of each image or laser line of your data.
Achieving accuracy and precision
With that in mind, to get the level of accuracy and precision required to make the most of the laser point cloud data, operators need to incorporate a reliable navigation system. Sonardyne’s SPRINT-Nav hybrid navigator is the optimal solution.
SPRINT-Nav fuses an INS (Inertial Navigation System), DVL (Doppler Velocity Log) and a high accuracy intelligent pressure sensor (depth) into one tightly integrated unit. That means it replaces the need for separate AHRS, DVL, INS and depth sensors, so there’s less cabling for you to deal with and fewer connectors to keep check of. It’s not only simpler to mobilise, it’s also cheaper than those four sensors it replaces. It’s lightweight, low power and comes pre-calibrated instrument, providing fast, precise and robust navigation for accurate, georeferenced results, as well as vehicle guidance and control information.
Like the Voyis Insight Laser Scanner and Observer Stills Camera, SPRINT-Nav can be used for a range of applications and integrated into virtually any subsea or surface vehicle, from ROVs (Remotely Operated Vehicles) and AUVs (Autonomous Underwater Vehicles) to USVs (Uncrewed Surface Vessels).
With Sonardyne’s SPRINT-Nav Mini, even small, man-portable systems such as a the VideoRay Defender or IQUA Robotic’s Sparus ROV can benefit from hybrid navigation. SPRINT-Nav Mini is the industry’s smallest all-in-one hybrid acoustic-inertial subsea navigator. It comes pre-calibrated, is easy to integrate and operate with a web UI for configuration, so it’s ideal even for those new to underwater navigation.
Contact us and Sonardyne to learn more!
