USVs deployed for seafloor mapping mission in Gulf of Maine

US unmanned systems specialist saildrone has deployed two of its unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) to conduct an ocean mapping mission on the US East Coast.

The USVs will return to the area where they spent two months in the summer of 2023 mapping in the north-central Gulf of Maine in support of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) deep-sea coral surveys.

Prior to last year's mission, the area where they are operating in the Gulf of Maine was never before mapped in high resolution using modern tools.

The two vehicles will be working in the same general section of the study area but could be five to 10 nautical miles apart from each other, surveying separate tracklines in adjacent blocks.

Each USV will be operating in small portions of the total survey footprint, surveying one 2.7-by-2.7-nautical-mile square each day.

The vehicles will begin the survey at the southern end of the survey area and will progress north during the two-month mission.

To ensure safe operations at sea, each vehicle is equipped with an AIS transceiver, enabling it to see and be seen by surrounding commercial traffic. The vehicles are slow relative to other marine users and operate at speeds of between two and four knots, moving between a series of predetermined waypoints.

The USVs are each designed with high-visibility colours for daytime visibility, a bright navigation light for nighttime awareness, and a radar reflector. Onboard cameras provide domain awareness to operators at Saildrone Mission Control and are monitored remotely 24/7.

Saildrone will deploy the USVs from Portland, Maine, on Monday, April 15, to commence a three-to-four-day transit to the survey area. For the period of April 18 to 26, Saildrone will have one vehicle collecting data in designated survey blocks.

Because the Saildrone vehicles are dependent on wind for propulsion, actual survey progress will be dependent on environmental conditions. For planning purposes, the company anticipates it will take one to two days to complete a survey block before proceeding to the next area.