Sonardyne’s Underwater Navigation Tech for SMD’s New ROV

Sonardyne International has supplied underwater navigation technology for Soil Machine Dynamics’ (SMD) new electric work class remotely operated vehicle (ROV) range, launched on Tuesday.

The Quantum EV will be factory-fitted with Sonardyne’s hybrid navigation solution, Lodestar-Nav 200, as standard, enabling new owners to put the ROV straight into operational service after taking delivery, the company said.

Mark Collins, SMD’s director for Remote and Autonomous Solutions, said, “The EV range represents a new philosophy in ROV design focused on performance, reliability, flexibility, ease of use and compact form factor. It makes sense to apply the approach to the sensors we select to fit. Lodestar-Nav exceeds our stringent design criteria and focus on ease of use and reliability. Over the past few months our engineering team has been working closely with Sonardyne’s to fully understand the instrument’s impressive capabilities and complete all the integration and pre-delivery testing regimes.”

Alan MacDonald, sales manager with Sonardyne in Aberdeen, added, “Lodestar-Nav’s 4,000 meter housing is compact and easy to fit with just one cable to interface so fitting it during the build of a vehicle makes a lot of sense. From an end-users’ perspective, taking delivery of your new vehicle with the navigation already taken care is very appealing, and  means you can put your new asset to work in less time.”