Coastal survey vessel maintains French theme

Hydro International -

UK-based seabed mapping and coastal survey specialist Osiris Projects has chosen iXBlue for the motion reference systems to integrate with the survey and navigation suite on board its new-build survey vessel the SV Bibby Tethra. The class-leading vessel will be fitted with an iXSea OCTANS gyrocompass/motion sensor and a HYDRINS inertial navigation system (INS).

The Bibby Tethra (on the image the special hull is visible) is nearing completion at SOCARENAM's Boulogne shipyard and is due to enter service in May this year. Osiris Projects is stressing that the extremely stable working platform that the 27.5m catamaran will provide, and thanks to the semi-SWATH hull design it will behave more like a 60m vessel in terms of seaworthiness and capability.

The vessel is expected to go straight to work in May, however, it has not been built solely for use on offshore renewable energy projects and Osiris Projects plan to find work for the vessel in the oil and gas industry and to use it in conjunction with ROVs and AUVs. Consequently, Bibby Tethra has been designed with dynamic positioning (DP) capability.

This feature first pointed Osiris Projects in iXBlue's direction when it came to specifying the motion reference systems on board the vessel. Osiris Projects survey manager Richard Hill explains: "DP classification requires two independent, IMO-certified heading aiding sources, which is exactly what the OCTANS and HYDRINS units provide."

Hill adds that Osiris Projects carried out extensive sea trials to ensure that the HYDRINS INS unit met the company's acceptance criteria in terms of the quality of the motion reference data required for the accurate seabed surveying and mapping work on which the company's reputation has been built. Using the DELPH INS post-processing software that iXSea supplies as part of the HYDRINS package, Osiris Projects expect to maintain very high positional accuracies even when the vessel is without GNSS aiding for extended periods.

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