Meet The 6G® Product Range

Sonardyne’s new sixth generation hardware platform utilises ultra-wide bandwidth signals to provide exceptional subsea navigation, communications and positioning performance.

6G® technology is simple and intuitive to operate, reducing the need for skilled operators thereby reducing risk. New acoustic instruments enable faster and more efficient solutions for applications such as spool piece metrology and structure placement, so reducing vessel time. Equipment flexibility and longer battery life enables seabed reference transponders to be semi-permanently deployed thereby reducing total deployment costs and enabling multiple users to undertake simultaneous operations. Cost savings are generated through the flexibility offered by the system components which can be used by a range of different but compatible systems for different operations.

6G® is digital-only utilising Sonardyne Wideband® 2 signals. It has been field proven in specialist subsea monitoring applications and has been validated and approved by a major oil company customer. The 6G® product family is already comprehensive and although there is a limited level of backward compatibility with current systems, the full benefits of the new technology can only be realised when using exclusively 6G® equipment. As the benefits of 6G® are increasingly realised by the offshore community, upgrade and trade-in paths are available to extend the life of current systems.

 

Compatt 6

Compatt 6 offers significant time saving using faster and more robust Wideband 2 acoustic ranging and telemetry and protocols. In addition this makes any system operating with Compatt 6 significantly easier to use so de-skilling and de-risking offshore operations. For example, Compatt 6 in one message tells the navigation system what sensors and functionality is available and its complete configuration.

The Type 8300 Compatt 6 is the standard length and is based on the field proven mechanics of the Compatt 5 with improvements to the closure mechanism. The design offers the perfect balance between size, acoustic output and battery life. Several depth ratings are available: 3000m, 5000m and 7000m all hard anodised aluminium alloy with protective polyurethane sleeve.

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ROVNav 6

ROVNav 6 is a 6G® ranging and telemetry Long BaseLine (LBL) transceiver for installation on work class ROVs and deployment from vessels. Its high power enables long range performance on noisy vehicles. ROVNav 6 is also a fully compatible USBL responder compatible with Sonardyne Wideband® 1 and 2 USBL systems as well as HPR400 mode. The internal Lithium-ion rechargeable battery pack also enables emergency transponder mode so if the umbilical and therefore power is cut to the ROV it can still be located.

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Remote Sensor Pack

Sonardyne’s Remote Sensor Pack (RSP) is an ROV manipulator- deployed instrument enabling the precise measurement of depth, pitch and roll along with data provided from an externally interfaced altimeter. It provides all the information required for conducting seabed and structure levelling surveys from a single instrument. The RSP tightly integrates both a Digiquartz pressure sensor and precision dual axis inclinometer reducing the number of individual instruments thereby saving time through quick interfacing and simple operation. The sensors are housed in a rugged precision reference plate with a versatile ROV manipulator handle.

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Lodestar GyroCompatt 6

Lodestar GyroCompatt 6 integrates Sonardyne’s Wideband® 2 acoustic positioning and Lodestar AHRS technology in one small, highly versatile and robust instrument. This provides high update rate wireless attitude, heading, heave, surge, sway, pressure, SV and acoustic positioning of any subsea object. Compatible with USBL and LBL positioning systems, the Lodestar GyroCompatt 6 provides real time motion data for structure deployment via the integrated high speed acoustic modem.

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HPT Transceiver

The HPT Ultra-Short BaseLine (USBL) and telemetry transceiver is a new high performance platform supporting Sonardyne’s Wideband2 6G® instruments offering significant improvements in acoustic positioning and telemetry performance. The advanced multi-element processing enables transponders to be positioned more precisely, more quickly and more robustly due to improvements in signal processing algorithms and array design. When used as part of a complete USBL system such as Marksman or Ranger 2 and tightly integrated with Sonardyne’s Lodestar attitude, heading and inertial navigation sensor, class leading performance in all water depths is achieved.

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Lodestar Gyro USBL

Lodestar GyroUSBL combines a Sonardyne 6th (6G®) generation high performance HPT USBL transceiver and a Lodestar Attitude and Heading Reference System (AHRS) / Inertial Navigation System (INS) in the same mechanical assembly. With the AHRS / INS in fixed mechanical alignment to the USBL’s acoustic array, the Lodestar GyroUSBL can be quickly deployed without need for a USBL calibration to determine the alignment of the ship’s motion sensors to the acoustic transceiver. For certain applications, this can enable significant savings in vessel time and operational costs. The HPT transceiver component of the instrument utilises the latest Sonardyne Wideband® 2 signal processing and is fully compatible with other products in the new Sonardyne 6G® equipment range.

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Wideband Mini-Transponder (WMT)

Sonardyne’s existing Wideband Sub-Mini transponder (WSM) is typically interrogated by a responder trigger down the ROVs’ umbilical or a narrow band tone signal. In some situations, reverberation or multipath of the tone interrogation can cause interference problems. The new WMT is Sonardyne’s first mini-sized transponder, slightly larger than the WSM and providing full two-way Wideband interrogation and reply which completely mitigates interference from other users and to other users. For use on ROVs, the WMT includes responder trigger, an integrated Li-Ion battery pack that is charged from the ROV’s power supply and full RS232communications enabling channel set up, power, gain etc. to be changed from the surface.

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Av-Trak 6

AvTrak 6 is an acoustic navigation and communications instrument designed to form part of an integrated AUV navigation system. It combines the functions of transponder, transceiver and telemetry link in one low power device that has been designed to meet the requirements of a wide variety of AUV mission scenarios and vehicle types. The unit operates in Sonardyne’s Wideband® 2 or HPR 400 Series tone modes with a variety of other systems and transponders. It is also fully compatible with Sonardyne’s family of survey quality LBL and USBL navigation systems

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Fetch

Fetch is a long-life subsea sensor logging node that enables data to be wirelessly extracted via the integrated high speed acoustic modem. It can be deployed by free falling it from a vessel to the seabed to land upright. This reduces deployment cost. Fetch can be configured with an array of different sensors, dependent on the monitoring applications that it is being used for. Standard sensors include high accuracy pressure, temperature and sound velocity as well as inclination. Other sensors can be integrated internally or externally as required.

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