SEALL ECDIS was used recently in SEA-KIT's unmanned remote operated vessel which completed 22 days of unmanned operations in the Atlantic Ocean.
The offshore exploration vessel, the SEA-KIT Unmanned Surface Vessel (USV) Maxlimer, was launched from Plymouth in late July and operated in the Atlantic 460 km south west of Cornwall. The ship returned on August 17 after surveying around 1,000 sq km of seabed.
The ship was controlled remotely via satellite from shore at SEA-KIT’s base in Tollesbury as part of the round-the-clock work.
The vessel used a multi-beam echo-sounder attached to its hull to map the continental shelf at depths of up to a kilometre. This region has had little modern mapping work done, with virtually no up to date data registered with the UK Hydrographic Office.
The European Space Agency provided part of the funding for the mission.
Peter Walker, Director of Technology at SEA-KIT, expressed delight at welcoming Maxlimer back to Plymouth:
“It has been a tense but exciting few weeks. The project’s overall aim was to demonstrate the capabilities of current technologies to survey unexplored or inadequately surveyed ocean frontiers and we have absolutely done that. It is a ground-breaking achievement to prove true over-the-horizon capability and the team are elated to have successfully pushed the boundaries of our USV design once again.”
Learn more about SEA-KIT: SEA-KIT Image Credit: Sonardyne International
