Exail, RTsys and ABYSSA Connect on Ocean Floor Mapping

Exail, RTsys, and ABYSSA announced a strategic partnership in the CARMA (Mineral resources mapping by AUVs swarms) project. Co-funded by Bpifrance under the #France2030 initiative and designed to advance knowledge of great depths, the CARMA project focuses on developing swarms of Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) for efficient ocean floor mapping.

This project aims to develop an innovative solution for precise seabed surveying at great depths. The ongoing development involves creating a solution in which a multi-sensor underwater drone capable of diving to 3,000 meters will coordinate multiple AUVs to increase the surface of the exploration area. The research program also includes the development of advanced collaborative navigation, acoustic communications, positioning, and innovative mapping capabilities. CARMA supports the French authorities' strategy to develop extensive deep-sea exploration capacities.

As part of this strategy, Exail will improve the capabilities of its deep-water AUV A18-D to serve as the leading AUV to guide the swarm. Improvements will enable navigation down to 3,000 meters, at close altitude from the seabed over sloped terrains, and to accurately geolocate swarm’s acquired data. RTsys will extend the capabilities of its newly developed AUV COMET-3000 to dive up to 3,000 meters. Multiple units will be provided to act as followers, along with the development of an innovative launch and recovery system for the AUV swarm. ABYSSA will focus on developing exploration strategies for deep-water swarms of AUVS. Additionally, ABYSSA will process the magnetic data collected to map the magnetic anomalies on the seabed.

This project aims to result in the deployment of an operational demonstrator at sea in 2026, paving the way for future commercial phases. Concurrently, the project will carry out a preliminary study on extending exploration capacity to 6,000 meters depth.

 Exail will improve the capabilities of its deep-water AUV A18-D to serve as the leading AUV to guide the swarm. Image courtesy Exail - Balao