Unmanned Survey Solutions sister company Swathe Services ran the world’s first commercial MBES training course using a remotely operated Unmanned Surface Vessel provided by USS.
Hydrographic Surveying is usually done with a manned survey vessel and takes many hours to complete. This course aims to change the way surveying is done, using remotely operated USV’s. People came from as far afield as Norway, France, Slovenia, UK and the USA to attend the intensive 5-day course.
Mapping a harbour remotely
As part of the training, the delegates mapped Hayle Harbour in Cornwall using the USS Inception Class USV fitted with Multi-beam Echo-Sounder technology. The USV was remotely operated from Swathe Services offices nearby using dedicated survey data acquisition software from HYPACK.
Feedback from the course
Kordula Schwarzwalder, A Researcher from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, said: “This course is invaluable for me as a researcher as we use these USV’s to map rivers in Norway, so having hands-on training on remotely operating these vessels is very useful. I’ve learnt so much in such a short time.”
Pierre Mezerette from SBG Systems in France said: “I have been training with HYPACK which is a fantastic software programme for Hydrographic Surveying, and to see the USV operating remotely in the harbour was just amazing. It’s changing the way we survey ports and harbours. ”
Director of USS, James Williams said: “We are proud to be involved with providing a world first right here in the UK. Unmanned Survey Solutions provided the remotely operated Unmanned Surface Vessel for the training and it all worked perfectly.”
“The future of conducting Hydrographic surveys is changing, and we are meeting those changes by working with Swathe Services to offer training using the latest autonomous vessels and innovative MBES technology.”
