Autonomous Long-Range Seafloor-Based Cable Navigation and Monitoring

Inventors: Robin Littlefield
Intellectual Property: Patent Pending

Overview: As offshore wind farms expand, it will be crucial to monitor the complex network of cables and power export cables to ensure reliability and cost-effective operation of the wind farm. Cable surveys are typically conducted from manned-surface vehicles using towed systems, ROVs, and/or divers. The equipment needed to effectively monitor the cables can be deployed as towed systems, but cannot always be deployed at the same time. Additionally, with towed systems, navigational and positional accuracy can be distorted due to currents, speed, and wave motion. AUVs offer precise navigation and control, making them well-suited for accurately localizing targets on the seafloor.

Technology: The methodology developed implements AUVs for seafloor cable surveying. By surveying cables with the goal of cable localization, this method and system circumvent the difficulties associated with AUV-based cable-following routines and provides a robust approach to cable localization and characterization that can inform under-sea navigation, providing improved positional accuracy for data acquisition and survey reliability for relevant stakeholders.