Offshore staff
LINKÖPING, Sweden – Saab Seaeye has successfully docked its iCON-based Sabertooth AUV/ROV at a deepwater docking station to receive data transfer, assignment instructions, and battery charging.
The company claims this is a major breakthrough for the offshore market, which has been monitoring developments in remote residency technologies because of the potential operational and financial benefits.
During trials the 3,000-m (9,842-ft) water depth rated Sabertooth, fitted with a Blue Logic 2kW charger/inductive device, was able to dock in a safe and controlled manner, both in the horizontal and vertical plane.
Jan Siesjö, chief engineer at Saab Seaeye, Sweden, said the vehicle was the only one available capable of hovering both in ROV and AUV mode, and of undertaking long- term residency operations in difficult to access locations.
Sabertooth can be based at a remote location docking station ready to be launched on pre-programmed or human-controlled missions, which include inspection, repair and maintenance, research tasks, and environmental monitoring.
At the docking station, tooling packages are stored, batteries recharged, and data transferred via satellite or cable to shore.
02/15/2019
