Oceaneering Freedom AUV

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Freedom is Oceaneering's autonomous underwater vehicle, which it calls the most advanced resident-capable underwater robotic solution available: it delivers the data resolution and single-pass coverage usually only obtainable with an ROV, at the speed and mission efficiency of an AUV. It inspects pipelines, flowlines and umbilicals in one pass, where a traditional AUV may need two or three, flying as low as 3 to 5 m above the asset, and its anomaly recognition of free spans, burials and crossings triggers sub-missions for closer inspection. The 4.5 x 1.2 x 0.8 m vehicle weighs 2,245 kg, is rated from 45 to 6,000 m and carries a 136 kg payload. Four vectored horizontal and four vertical thrusters give survey speeds up to 3 knots (6 knots maximum forward), a 120 km survey range in benign conditions and 87 hours of station keeping at 0.5 knot, with a 4-hour charge to 80 percent. Its proprietary COMPASS software analyses sonar and camera data on board, enabling touch-free cathodic protection measurement and hydrocarbon leak detection; sensors include forward-looking sonars, a Teledyne SeaBat T20-S multibeam, Voyis laser imaging and stills, and Sonardyne SPRINT-Nav inertial navigation. It can be recovered over the side from a vessel in a cage, or live on a subsea docking station, locating, aligning and latching horizontally to change tools, recharge and offload data without surfacing. Development began in 2017, and commercial pipeline operations started in September 2023; it won TotalEnergies' 2024 Innovation Award, and Oceaneering is building a Freedom AUV and remote operations centre for the U.S. Navy.

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