Two Gavia AUVs with EdgeTech Sonars Shipped for Mine Countermeasures

Teledyne Gavia, manufacturer of the Gavia Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV), announced the shipment of two Gavia AUVs equipped with the latest EdgeTech 2205 side scan sonars. The simultaneous dual frequency 600 /1,600 kHz EdgeTech 2205 side scan sonar and the Kearfott T24 inertial navigation system (INS) allow the Gavia to gather high resolution, accurately navigated, sonar images while remaining submerged for several hours of continuous operation at survey speeds up to five knots. The addition of a high accuracy GPS and the augmentation of the INS by Long Base Line (LBL) beacons ensures precise navigation during even longer duration and deeper missions. This combination of sensors make it ideal for mine countermeasures (MCM) and search and salvage operations, in continental-shelf waters and beyond.

Equipping the Gavia AUV with the survey-grade side scan from EdgeTech (W. Wareham, Mass., U.S.) combines the advantages of a survey platform that can get close to the site of interest, with a high resolution long-range digital sonar system. The EdgeTech 2205 sonar includes the EdgeTech Full Spectrum CHIRP underwater imaging technology, designed to improve signal-to-noise ratios and increase detection ranges, with sub-centimeter across track resolution at 1,600 kHz and simultaneous longer-rage imagery with 1.5cm resolution at 600 kHz. The Gavia AUV can also be equipped with a camera and strobe system for close inspection of any targets identified by the sonar system.

“The Gavia AUV’s accurate navigation capability around a mission site combined with the excellent data quality provided by the EdgeTech 2205 side scan system, make this an ideal solution for MCM and inspection work. Geophysical survey capabilities can also be enabled by adding other modules, including swath bathymetry, sub-bottom profiler, and environmental sensors,” said Arnar Steingrimsson, Director of Vehicle Sales at Teledyne Marine Systems. “It was great to see the first two EdgeTech-equipped Gavia AUVs in operation together during the factory testing in Iceland. I am very impressed by the quality of the data collected by the Gavia/EdgeTech combination.”

The Gavia Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) is a modular, highly versatile, low-logistics subsea survey solution. The Gavia AUV can carry an array of sensors and custom payload modules to a survey site in up to 1,000m water depth for research, monitoring, survey or surveillance tasks. Teledyne Gavia supplies AUV systems to the oil and gas sector, oceanographic and environmental research institutes and to the defense sector.

In a typical MCM configuration the Gavia AUV is 2.2m long and weighs less than 65kg in air. It can rapidly be dismantled into several sections (less than 25kg each) for transport. The low logistic Gavia AUV can then quickly be transferred to remote locations, and assembled and deployed by a small team in under an hour.

teledynegavia.com