Saildrone has quickly risen to the surface of the growing field of autonomous seagoing vehicles – a category you could be forgiven for not knowing about, but which is becoming increasingly important in numerous industries. The newest ship, the Voyagerbalances his shorter Explorer and large-scale Surveyor, and they’re already earning one a week.
The Voyager is a 33-foot unmanned surface vehicle, or USV, intended for near-coastal maritime operations such as coast and lake mapping. In addition to the expected sonar equipment, each vessel is equipped with traditional cameras, radar and “underground passive acoustics” to form an image of the sea or lake bottom to a depth of 900 feet. It also integrates other improvements such as more power and a more consistent data uplink.
You can imagine how useful it would be to circulate one of these things every month to provide up-to-date statistics about your port or channel. In addition to the ordinary changes associated with tidal action and silt and soil redistribution, it can identify illegal dump sites, floating debris such as a tangle of fishing equipment, and other unwanted developments.
Of course there are also security applications: “illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing” is a huge problem, especially given the fragile state of marine ecosystems at the moment. And more traditional law enforcement operations, such as fighting smuggling, would also benefit from a little hour-long surveillance.
However, it doesn’t have to be just a floating agent. The data from autonomous platforms like Saildrone’s is useful for research purposes. The various sensors on board can detect wave action, salinity, water temperature and a host of other metrics that oceanographers, meteorologists and the like can’t get enough of.
Image Credits: Sailing drone
And as nearby coastal industries such as seaweed farming and fisheries proliferate in the new blue economy, this data contributes to a more accurate picture of the ever-changing ocean. Of course, saildrone ships don’t need humans, which means they can spend a lot of time at sea or in inhospitable locations like polar waters.
The Voyager has been tested since February last year, when the first prototype went into the water, and has since been revised several times – the company said it really is always in development mode as new technologies and use cases become available.
Saildrone will now enter full production mode. The company has built 100 of its smaller Explorer craft since its inception years ago, but is now poised to pump out a Voyager a week. To do so, it must outsource production of the wing, keel and fuselage to partners Janicki Industries and Seemann Composites, though the final vessel will be assembled and maintained at Saildrone’s main space in Alameda, CA.
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