Fugro’s Blue Eclipse® USV Makes Commercial Debut

This week, Fugro announced the first commercial contract for its Blue Eclipse® uncrewed surface vessel (USV).

For the first time in its history, Norway’s MAREANO will use USV technology to acquire seabed mapping data for the Norwegian Hydrographic Service.

The Blue Eclipse®, the largest USV in Fugro’s fleet, will survey over 675 square kilometers in the North Sea, with water depths ranging from 90 to 250 meters.

Equipped with advanced high-resolution, high-density multibeam echo sounders and sub-bottom profiler data acquisition systems, the USV will gather comprehensive datasets, including bathymetry, water column data, acoustic backscatter data and sub-bottom profiler data to understand the seabed’s topography and geology.

A key advantage of using the Blue Eclipse® is its significantly reduced fuel consumption – up to 90 % less than traditional survey vessels.

Controlled from Fugro’s remote operations center in Aberdeen, the USV’s long endurance and real-time data transfer capabilities will ensure efficient operations and reduce potential delays in the challenging North Sea environment, factors crucial for the success of the MAREANO program.

The Blue Eclipse® is the start of Fugro’s next generation of USVs. At 18 meters long, it is significantly longer than its 9 and 12-meter predecessors.
The USV is engineered for the harsh conditions of the Central North Sea and capable of surveying in more difficult conditions compared to the previous USV models. The USV also has up to 20 days of estimated endurance.

The Blue Eclipse® may be accompanied by the Blue Amp® electric remotely operated vehicle (eROV). The eROV is capable of inspection down to 500 meters with simple modification extendable to 1,000 meters if used with a USV. The eROV utilizes over 30kW of power and can complete fast remote inspection and light intervention tasks. The eROV can be deployed from a USV with a dedicated launch sled and launch and recovery system or conventionally from an ROV support vessel or fixed rig/platform.

Blue Eclipse®
General Specifications

Length: 17.6m
Beam: 3.5m
Draft 2.5m
Endurance: 20 days

Main Survey Spread

Multi beam echo sounder: Dual EM2040 or similar
Sub-bottom profiler: Innomar medium
Single beam echo sounder: Teledyne Echotrac E20
Sound velocity profiler: Valeport UV-SVP in gondola
Motion reference unit: iXblue Hydrins
Acoustic underwater positioning: Sonardyne Mini Ranger 2 USBL
Navigation: Fugro Starfix Suite
Near real-time processing: Fugro Sense suite software

Blue Amp®
General Specifications

Dimensions: 2070mm x 842mm x 1200mm
Weight: 650kg in air (850kg max)
Depth rating: 1000 MSW
Thruster configuration: 4 vertical 180mm in diameter and 4 axial 250mm in diameter
Performance: operational 3 knots linear inspection speed, 250kgf of forward thrust, 200kgf lateral and 100kgf vertical thrust
Payload: 50kg, expandable to over 100kg with skid
Tether: OD: 20mm, minimum bend diameter: 70mm
Controls: next generation Fugro control software

Sensor Payload

Cameras: Imenco Orca – main pilot camera, 1080 p.60 FPS and 30x optical zoom, rear facing upper camera, tooling camera, Camblock with dual strobes
Manipulator: can be installed with 3, 4, 5 and 7 function, up to 20kg lifting capacity depending on configuration
Sonar: Blueview M900-2250-130-Mk2
Survey Sensors: SprintNAV mini DVL/INS (possible upgrade to SprintNAC300), Valeport UV-SVP, Dual Norbit WBMS (wideband multibeam sonar), Sonardyne WSM 6+ or Sonardyne Nano CP+
Inspection sensor: CP+ QuickVision®