Seatronics has invested £1 million in Sonardyne’s new 6G (Sixth Generation) range of acoustic and inertial navigation products and becomes the first subsea electronics rental company able to offer customers this leading-edge technology. The launch of 6G represents a major advance by Sonardyne in subsea acoustic positioning, inertial navigation and wireless communications technology and offers benefits in a variety of applications, including metrology connected with subsea construction and installation work. David Currie, managing director of Seatronics, said, “This investment reflects our commitment to offer customers advanced subsea electronics with the power to make a real difference to their operations. 6G is a valuable addition to our inventory and, given the strong technical support that we are able to provide for the equipment – our engineers are signed up to Sonardyne training courses – we expect to see an increasing demand for its use.” 6G equipment incorporates the latest, digital-only Sonardyne Wideband® 2 signalling technology, which uses ultra-wide bandwidth signals for fast, robust transmission of sensor data and precise ranging performance. Subsea instruments have tremendous versatility and prolonged battery life, and are quick and easy to set up and operate; all features that combine to reduce risk, improve operational efficiency and cut vessel costs. Seatronics’ 6G inventory includes Compatt 6 transponders with different sensor end-caps to measure depth, sound velocity and inclination; ROVNav 6 acoustic transceivers; Acoustic Monitoring Transponders with autonomous logging capabilities; and Lodestar GyroCompatts. The last items combine an acoustic transponder with a high-precision, high-update-rate attitude and heading reference system (AHRS) in a single subsea housing. The first company to take advantage of the Seatronics’ 6G equipment is Subsea 7, working under contract to BP in Block 31, offshore Angola. Subsea 7 is using the new equipment for various subsea positioning and measurement tasks in connection with the installation of seabed structures and flowlines and the accurate fabrication of spoolpieces and jumpers.
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Source: SeatronicsLtd, June 17, 2010