BlueZone Group works with businesses as well as in the defence market to provide complete solutions for hydrographic surveying. The innovative MANTAS vessels from Marine Tactical Systems Inc (MARTAC) are unmanned surface and hybrid vessels equipped with robust TASKER command and control systems. They are capable of high speed, have excellent range, use solar panels for extended endurance, allow high precision loitering and station keeping, have fully autonomous, semi-autonomous and full operator control modes, and are sensor and communications agnostic. Being unmanned, they can collect large amounts of data enabling the surveyor to use their time and expertise to analyse and interpret the information.

The MANTAS USV vessel is a catamaran hull design based on a powerboat racing vessel that set world speed records. This catamaran design is stable at both high and low speeds and in challenging water environments. The stability comes from the hull which provides for continuous laminar flow forward to aft as the vessel moves through the water. This laminar flow means that instruments such as Multi-Beam Echo Sounders can be mounted very close to the hull and still achieve good data at 8 to 10 knots speed through the water.

USV technology has advanced and so has the software that is used in conjunction with it. In partnership with Teledyne Marine, Teledyne CARIS has leveraged years of leadership in the marine survey market to create CARIS Collect, a modern and easy to use software package for data acquisition as part of Onboard360. The software is designed with an intuitive user experience for ease of integration and simple user adaption, minimising the effort required to implement new software and giving potential for significant reductions in ship to shore turnaround times.

At BlueZone, we work to understand our client’s needs and help them combine innovative robotic and autonomous technology like the MANTAS, with advanced solutions like CARIS Collect, to provide a complete solution capability. It is essential that businesses, governments and individuals work together to ensure the future of our oceans.