Sonardyne equips McDermott’s vessel with subsea navigation

January 11, 2017

Underwater acoustics provider Sonardyne has supplied McDermott’s Lay Vessel 108 with acoustically-aided inertial navigation technology.

Sonardyne said on Wednesday that the Ranger 2 Pro DP-INS system was used to support touchdown monitoring surveys of submarine cables, umbilicals, and pipelines and as an independent position reference for the LV 108’s Kongsberg dynamic positioning (DP) system.

The equipment supplied to McDermott for the LV 108 includes Sonardyne’s INS sensor co-located with the company’s sixth-generation HPT acoustic transceiver.

McDermott’s LV 108 entered service in 2015 and is currently on contract in the Ichthys field in Western Australia. It was designed as a fast-transit, DP-2 vessel for subsea constructions support across a wide variety of water depths. The LV 108 has 2,000 square meters of deck space and can accommodate a crew of 129.

Dynamically positioned construction and installation vessels such as the LV 108, conventionally rely on Ultra-Short BaseLine (USBL) acoustics and the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) as their primary sources of position reference data.

The company said that its Ranger 2 Pro DP-INS system aids vessel positioning by exploiting the long-term accuracy of Sonardyne’s wideband acoustic signal technology with high-integrity, high update inertial measurements. The resulting navigation is completely independent of GNSS, the company noted.

Jason Peters, Global Survey Manager at McDermott, said: “The decision to equip the LV 108 with Sonardyne’s DP-INS reflects our approach to fleet expansion and renewal. This strategy focuses on ensuring our vessels and acquisitions keep abreast of the industry’s growing demand for safe, efficient, cost-effective installation solutions for field developments across all water depths.”

Ralph Gall, Technical Sales Manager at Sonardyne in Houston, added: “The LV 108 joins a significant fleet of vessels that now depend upon our acoustic inertial technology for safer and more efficient dynamic positioning operations.”