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ECA Group is showcasing its A9 man-portable Autonomous Underwater Vehicle at UDT 2015

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UDT 2015 Online Show Daily - ECA Group
 
 
 
ECA Group is showcasing its A9 man-portable Autonomous Underwater Vehicle at UDT 2015
 
At the UDT 2015 Undersea Defence Technology exhibition and conference currently taking place in the maritime city of Rotterdam, Netherlands, ECA Group of France is showcasing its A9 autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV). The ECA Group has a full range of AUVs, spanning from the most compact A9 (on display at UDT 2015) to the largest versions of A27 and ALISTAR3000. They all share the same IT architecture, autonomous software and supervision interface.
     
At the UDT 2015 Undersea Defence Technology exhibition and conference currently taking place in the maritime city of Rotterdam, Netherlands, ECA Group of France is showcasing its A9 autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV). The ECA Group has a full range of AUVs, spanning from the most compact A9 (on display at UDT 2015) to the largest versions of A27 and ALISTAR3000. They all share the same IT architecture, autonomous software and supervision interface.A9 autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) at UDT 2015
     
The A9 range is a recent line of small AUVs of between 50kg and 120kg. Available since the end of 2012, they can be put into operation by two people without any particular method of launching the vehicle. The French Navy has been equipped with an A9 AUV since 2013. Japan and Turkey each purchased one in 2014. They are well suited to coastal and harbour surveillance. The catalogue price for A9 vehicles ranges from €0.5 million to €2 million.

Valentin Hanns, ECA Group Export Sales Director, told Navy Recognition during UDT 2015 that the A9 is fully autonomous. The AUV doesn't need its USBL (Ultra Short Base Line) for its nagivation therefore it may remain completly stealthy while conducting its mission. To achiev this, the A9 relies on its INS navigation system and doppler velocity log which don't emit any radiation or noise.
     
At the UDT 2015 Undersea Defence Technology exhibition and conference currently taking place in the maritime city of Rotterdam, Netherlands, ECA Group of France is showcasing its A9 autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV). The ECA Group has a full range of AUVs, spanning from the most compact A9 (on display at UDT 2015) to the largest versions of A27 and ALISTAR3000. They all share the same IT architecture, autonomous software and supervision interface.ECA Group stand at UDT 2015
     
A9 comes in various variants. A9-E is the configuration for environmental monitoring. In addition to the seabed image acquisition, it will record bathymetric data as well as environmental information such as water turbidity, conductivity, temperature, fluorescence, dissolved oxygen or pH.

A9-M is the configuration of ECA Group A9 man portable Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) dedicated to military applications. The vehicle has been designed to meet STANAG 1364 requirement: its acoustic and magnetic signatures are minimized in order not to trigger any underwater mines when doing the mine warfare survey. Its main function is Mine Like Objects detection and even classification depending on environmental conditions and seabed type in particular.

A9-S is the configuration dedicated to seabed imagery. The vehicle stability and its navigation accuracy offer the best operating conditions for getting the highest quality side scan sonar images. In addition, the sonar integrated on the AUV is one of the best available solution on the market. Triton SSS perspective suite can then be used to create sidescan mosaics of the highest quality.