A Norwegian yard is building a fleet of unmanned exploration vessels, powered by Volvo Penta’s new D8 diesels, that will try to map the entire ocean floor by 2030. This will be the first time that a fleet of autonomous surface vessels, called Armada, will be used for underwater exploration.
The Armada fleet will be run by Ocean Infinity, one of the world’s leading marine robotics companies. Founded in 2017, it is headquartered in Austin, Texas, with offices in Southampton, U.K. It hired Grovfjord Mek. Verksted in Norway to build the fleet of up to 13 vessels for entirely unmanned ocean exploration.
The Armada fleet comes in two sizes. GMV has started construction of the first four 68-feet-long vessels, and is finishing the design work on 118-feet-long vessels, using the same technology as the 68-footers but with more payload. Each ship will carry separate remotely operated underwater robots that can go down as deep as 19,000 feet underwater to carry out surveys for pipeline routes and to collect seismic data. They will be operated remotely from one of three control centers – in Austin, Southampton, and one in Asia that has yet been determined.
The Armada fleet will be totally diesel-electric, working with Volvo Penta and Danfoss Editron, a Danish company that’s one of the world’s leading suppliers of innovative energy-efficient products. The vessels will be powered by Volvo Penta DC gensets and Danfoss DC grid controls.
Volvo will use its new D8 engine because of its compact size, high power-to-weight radio, and low fuel consumption. Reliability is particularly important, since the Armada fleet will be operating in parts of the world far removed from any maintenance assistance.
The first four vessels in the Armada fleet will be launched in 2021, with the others to follow. Read more:
