Autonomous Underwater Ground Vehicle Provides Dredging Capabilities from Beach to Deep Seafloor

Bayonet Ocean Vehicles is bridging the gap between open water and the beach with a series of “AUGVs” or Autonomous Underwater Ground Vehicles that can transition from the ocean up through the surfzone and onto the beach.

Filling this vital gap near shore with a cost effective and adaptable platform also opens the opportunity for long term persistent environmental study in the surfzone and near shore where other platforms cannot operate.

Dredging operators face many challenges in gathering data both before, during and after operations. The Bayonet AUGV can handle all of these challenges from pre-job surveys to turbidity and real time data collection, as well as change detection monitoring post operations.

Bayonet’s product line consists of three vehicle sizes, the Bayonet 150, 250, and 350. The product line provides the ability to scale the vehicle size, configuration and power to meet the demands of the payload, operation duration and environment. All three Bayonet vehicle sizes are also available in an HD configuration which increases the torque and power of the vehicle to meet more demanding conditions and/or heavier payloads.

Bayonet’s range of vehicles are the only autonomous vehicles currently capable of providing dredging operators savings in time, safety and cost of operations.

• Autonomous operations reduce the number of survey staff needed.

• Capable of surveying entire beach restoration from dune to sea.

• Eliminates the hazards and time restrictions of sending a person into the ocean for data collection.

• A platform that can perform multiple roles in an operation reducing the number of people and tools needed to complete a job.

The Bayonet AUGVs can be deployed ashore or at sea and operate in depths up to 100m. Vehicles have a typical range of 10 miles submerged and 24 miles dry, and operate at speeds up to 1.5 knots. The vehicles' low profile and high stability allows them to penetrate the surf zone with up to 6 ft wave height and collect data independent of sea state and weather providing more days on task. Low domestic power draw provides static endurance of 100 days for continuous observations.

Bayonet vehicles are built on OPENSEA from the leader in underwater robotics software Greensea Systems. OPENSEA provides Bayonet AUGVs with advanced capabilities and rapid system integration so they can be fitted with a variety of environmental, oceanographic, hydrographic, benthic and industry specific sensors. Installations have included: sidescan, CTD, magnetometers, acoustic releases, vibracores, penetrometers, video and photographic imagery. Standalone guest sensors can easily be attached in the field or workshop integrated. Three single operator modes are available: autonomous, tethered or RF link buoy and with the addition of Safe C2, also from Greensea, we can extend the reach of the operator to control and monitor the vehicle to over-the-horizon or multiple locations.