56 unmanned systems
inside
April/May 2017
AIR & MARINE ENVIRONMENTAL
Planet Ocean and its partners are in the final phases of developing a system
for rapid, low-cost environmental assessment that launches and recovers micro
underwater vehicles from an autonomous surface vehicle.
by Renee Knight
Photos courtesy of Planet Ocean
W
hen the National Oceanography
Centre (NOC) first approached
Planet Ocean Ltd about developing
a micro autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV)
for under-ice research, the sensor and battery
technology necessary to make it happen just
wasn't available. That's no longer an issue.
In 2015, U.K.-based Planet Ocean received
funding from Innovate UK for a system that
launches and recovers multiple micro AUVs
autonomously for rapid environmental assess-
ment. Planet Ocean partnered with NOC, the
University of Southampton and ASV Global
for the two-year project, which is currently in
its testing phase and slated to wrap up at the
end of the summer.
During the project, BP International be-
came familiar with the work and asked Planet
Ocean to develop a special version of the AUV
tailored to their specific needs, Planet Ocean
Managing Director Terry Sloane said. BP was
interested in a slightly larger AUV with more
payload capacity and enhanced capabilities,
such as the ability to work in deeper water for
applications like offshore drilling and explo-
ration. They also wanted a system with more
comprehensive oil and water sensors and pipe
tracking capability.
The team developed that AUV, known as the
ecoSUBm, in about eight months—while still
working on the AUV for the Innovate project.
That AUV is called the ecoSUBµ, and both will
be sold by ecoSUB Robotics, a spinoff of Planet
Ocean.
SWARMING THE SEA
ecoSUB-μ hand launch.