Canada backs carbon neutral survey platform development

Canada’s Ocean Supercluster is supporting XOCEAN-led XO-G2 project which aims to develop the next generation survey platform in the form of uncrewed surface vessels (USV).

With increased demand on the ocean for aquaculture, harvesting metals and energy extraction, companies need safer, lower cost, carbon neutral uncrewed solutions for collecting ocean data.

The next generation of USVs should addresses these requirements operating over the horizon with a range of over 3,000 nautical miles without a support vessel.

The total project value is $3.4 million with the Ocean Supercluster providing $2 million in funding and the balance coming from project partners.

Led by XOCEAN’s Canadian business together with partners ABCO Industries, DMR Boat Design, Ocean Floor Geophysics (OFG), and Fisheries and Oceans Canada, the project aims to develop a fully integrated platform, controlled and operated by over the horizon satellite communications technology with the capability of an underwater towed body of sensors.

This project will supply ocean data using a platform that provides the capability to survey faster, deeper, further offshore with negligible carbon emissions.

These advancements to XOCEAN’s first USV, the XO-450, should allow access to a larger market and deliver a greater breadth of services, creating more than 50 direct jobs over the next four years.

XOCEAN is targeting the fabrication of a 100 USV fleet and the opening of a Control Room in Nova Scotia to support global operations.

The XO-G2 towed body will house OFG’s RM Hypermag, a scalable magnetic vector gradiometer that leverages their expertise in marine magnetics for autonomous vehicles.

Specifically, RM Hypermag is the next generation of OFG’s Self-Compensating Magnetometer (SCM) system for autonomous underwater vehicles (AUV), USVs, and ROVs. Improved depth of burial and tracking for cables and pipelines, UXO detection and characterization should all benefit from its high sensitivity, noise rejection, and “strap-down” configuration allowing for tight integration into the vehicle.