Nordic USV Secures First-of-Class HydroSurv REAV-47 for Deep Water Profiling

2 December 2024

(Image credit: HydroSurv)

Building on a transformative first year of uncrewed operations in Norwegian waters, Nordic USV and HydroSurv announced the extension of their partnership with a 60-month lease agreement for the newly launched REAV-47 platform. This strategic advancement follows Nordic USV's successful first year with the REAV-28 USV Nordy, which has been extensively fielded with more than 100 oceanographic monitoring missions from the vessel’s home port of Bergen.

The latest vessel, USV Bris, represents a significant milestone in the development of HydroSurv’s REAV platforms. The USV’s hybrid powertrain combines a 12 kW Mastervolt battery module with a 4 kW Fischer Panda generator to achieve 72-hour coastal endurance. In a first for HydroSurv, the REAV-47 utilizes Rim Drive Technologies’ groundbreaking 5kW electric outboards, offering instant, step-less acceleration while minimizing entanglement risks.

Pioneering Deepwater Capabilities

Nordic USV will deploy the REAV-47 primarily for CTD (Conductivity, Temperature, Depth) profiling operations in Norway’s challenging fjords. Featuring an upgraded OSIL profiling winch capable of reaching depths up to 1,500 meters, USV Bris’ profiling capabilities are expected to be the deepest achieved by a USV globally to date, marking a significant milestone in remotely operated vessel applications.

“The REAV-47 represents a quantum leap in remotely operated vessel capability,” said Sander Henriksen, CEO of Nordic USV. “From our Bergen Operations Centre, the REAV-47 will conduct missions up to 1,000 km away, gathering crucial environmental data even in adverse conditions. This unprecedented reach transforms how we monitor coastal ecosystems.”

The REAV-47 is HydroSurv’s first uncrewed vessel to be deployed with an advanced navigation suite integrating Furuno hardware with TimeZero marine navigation software, enabling enhanced situational awareness for coastal deployment in the challenging Nordic conditions. USV Bris continues to use the trusted and highly configurable Dynautics Spectre autopilot fielded on the previous seagoing REAV-60 vessels. David Hull, Founder & CEO of HydroSurv, commented: “We couldn’t be happier that Nordic USV have placed their trust in HydroSurv to provide USV capabilities for the next five years as they scale their innovative data collection services. Having completed over one hundred missions in the first year with the REAV-28 USV Nordy, I’m excited to see what Sander and his team will now achieve with USV Bris and her sisters scheduled for delivery early in the next year.”

Through 2025, Nordic USV has developed a busy schedule of taskings for the USV Bris, which will see the vessel operated in challenging conditions, on extended missions, and in remote locations to support the scaling of Nordic USV’s unique data-as-a-service model for oceanographic and environmental monitoring.