Norway's Kongsberg, via its Kongsberg Discovery technology division, has confirmed that the first production example of its long-range Hugin Endurance autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) has completed factory acceptance testing.
Sea trials for the first production unit began in September 2023. In the succeeding months, Kongsberg Discovery put the AUV through a series of tests to verify and refine all system capabilities.
Kongsberg said the trials ended with a successful demonstration of the AUV capabilities to the customer.
Kongsberg Discovery President Martin Wien Fjell said that the Hugin Endurance program has also attracted significant interest from the defence sector and from commercial operators. This is due to the AUV being able to accommodate various payloads depending on customer requirements for duties such as seabed mapping or inspection, oceanography, continuous surveys of offshore wind parks, and surveillance in support of critical subsea infrastructure or changes in ecosystems.
Sensors that can be fitted on the AUV include a high-resolution, synthetic aperture sonar, a sub-bottom profiling system, a colour camera, a laser profiler, a magnetometer, and environmental sensors collecting data such as conductivity, temperature, sound speed, methane, and CO2 and O2 concentration.