VESSEL REVIEW | Saga – Compact USV to conduct surveys in Norway’s inland waters
UK unmanned systems specialist HydroSurv Unmanned Survey has sold one of its unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) to civil engineering and construction company Skanska Norway.
Named Saga, the USV will be operated by Skanska Norway's in-house survey and inspection unit on inland hydrographic survey operations.
The craft features a fully welded aluminium catamaran hull with a length of 2.5 metres (8.2 feet), a lightship displacement of 210 kg, and payload capacity of 50 kg.
Configured for remote or autonomous operation
The USV will be primarily deployed to deliver high-resolution bathymetric surveys using a Norbit multibeam echosounder, supporting the design, construction and long-term maintenance of infrastructure located over, under and alongside the water.
Designed primarily for daytime operations, the USV is a sheltered-water, multi-purpose craft capable of supporting a wide range of hydrographic and environmental data collection campaigns. It is ideally suited to line of sight operations from ad hoc shore-based control stations or dedicated remote operation centres. Communication with the craft is via 2.4/5HGz radio, 4G/LTE, or Starlink satellite.
The vessel is equipped with twin 2.5kW rim-driven thrusters in fixed pod drives, minimising the risk of entanglement or damage during shallow-water operations, and is powered by a 6kWh lithium battery enabling full-day endurance and low noise. This configuration can also deliver a maximum speed of six knots.
As a commercial-grade platform, the USV features HydroSurv’s virtual vessel control system and a Dynautics autopilot. When integrated with a mission management system, the autopilot can support precise, repeatable survey operations under remote or automated control.
The USV is equipped with a forward-facing IP camera, though additional cameras such as forward-looking infrared sensors can also be mounted to permit operation of the craft even under low-light conditions.
Size allowing for ease of deployment
The craft is light and compact, making it readily portable with small trailers for launch and recovery even in worksites lacking in port infrastructure. A single-point lift is fitted for ease of handling.
David Hull, Founder and CEO of HydroSurv, said that the portability and flexibility of the platform allow for rapid mobilisation and the repeatable collection of high-quality survey data, thus aligning well with the owner’s operational and project delivery requirements.
