In response to increasing demand for remote offshore services, Fugro has completed the Middle East’s first fully autonomous geophysical shallow-water route survey.
Controlled from the company's remote operations centre in Abu Dhabi, an uncrewed surface vessel (USV) captured a full range of geophysical data across a survey area approximately 40 km from the coast of Abu Dhabi to support a client’s project entirely remotely.
The results of the fully autonomous geophysical shallow-water route survey comprised conductivity, temperature, depth, and salinity profiles; bathymetry data; seabed imaging; sub-bottom profiles; and ferrous-object detection. The efficiency gains and material reductions from using Fugro’s remote and autonomous solution, rather than a conventionally mobilized and crewed survey, included reduced exposure and significant client cost savings. Fugro’s USVs also have a much lower carbon footprint than regular survey vessels.
“Witnessing this ambitious concept transformed into reality is a landmark moment in the Middle East that has resulted in the successful delivery of a critical seabed characterisation report based solely on our autonomously acquired geo-data,” said Gerard Ferreira, Fugro’s service line director for marine geophysics in the Middle East.