"As we were formulating our requirements, our team of geologists and geophysicists envisioned a tool that could be operated at depths up to 1000m, be flexible and easy to maneuver close to the sea floor, and deliver high resolution data to meet our client's needs," said Enrico Sassi, GAS Srl Sales Manager. "Gas chose the Gavia AUV because it provided a complete survey payload solution that incorporated the SBP and Swath Bathymetry modules on a small vehicle platform. In addition, Teledyne Gavia was able to meet our short delivery time to satisfy our operational requirements."

Initial field trials and survey operations were conducted in the waters off Ortona, Italy and in the Adriatic from the vessel RV Odin Finder. High quality data was obtained from both the new Teledyne Benthos SBP and the 500 kHz GeoSwath module. The Gavia AUV was especially useful when operating around drill rigs with 700m exclusion zones. The relatively small Gavia AUV does not rely on acoustic positioning feeds from a base vehicle, which allowed it to be launched outside the exclusion zone and safely survey the area within the zone. Typical operations utilized the full survey suite and two battery modules for extended duration operations.

An autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) is a robot which travels underwater without requiring input from an operator. The Gavia Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) is a highly versatile, man portable, survey solution with a modular design that can accommodate a variety of sensors and custom payload options.

"We are excited to be working with GAS Srl and look forward to a long and mutually beneficial partnership," stated Arnar Steingrimsson, Teledyne Gavia's Director of Sales and Marketing. "We look forward to working with GAS and other commercial survey users to optimize the Gavia AUV as the AUV of choice for commercial survey applications."