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ECA Group A9 AUV successfully demonstrates the efficency of its interferometric side-looking sonar

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Naval Industry News - France
 
 
 
ECA Group A9 AUV successfully demonstrates the efficency of its interferometric side-looking sonar
 
The SWARMs project goals is to expand the use of underwater and surface vehicles in order to facilitate the conception, planning and execution of maritime and offshore operations and missions. During the early trials for this project, ECA Group successfully deployed the AUV A9-E equipped with interferometric side-looking sonar in a shallow water environment.
     
ECA Group A9 AUV SWARMDuring the early trials of the SWARMS project, ECA Group deployed its A9 AUV equipped with interferometric side-looking sonar (phase differencing bathymetric sonar) in a shallow water environment (13-20m water depth).
     
This sonar has increased area coverage by close to 200% over more conventional multibeam echo sounders in shallow water. Repeat pass surveys were conducted, under different headings, to assess the repeatability of the bathymetric and in fine the accuracy.

A mockup target of a chemical pollutant was also deployed and successfully detected by the ECA Group Autonomous Underwater Vehicle AUV A9-E. These detections were handed over to inspection ROVs of other partners in the project for detailed inspection using forward-looking sonar and optical sensors (including stereovision). A large data set was collected in support of the research objectives of the project which include real-time quality assessment of the bathymetric data using a quality factor provided by the sonar manufacturer and map matching for improved navigation and change detection.