Nautronix has today announced it has further enhanced the functionality and future support of the existing legacy Nautronix NASDrill USBL acoustic positioning systems.
Upgrading to the New NASDrill USBL MK II Directional Hydrophone
The new NASDrill USBL MK II directional interrogate / receive Hydrophone (PN 8010-6200) replaces all previous Hydrophone models and incorporates the latest transducer design. Utilising our reliable Acoustic Digital Spread Spectrum (ADS2) signalling technology, the hydrophone is housed within a ruggedised non corrosive pvc material, which eliminates most water corrosion issues. The Hydrophone is also more compact and lighter in weight, and employs an identical mounting flange so it can directly replace existing Hydrophone models on existing deployment poles and methods.
Furthermore as a full interrogate / receive transponder system the new MK2 Hydrophone also offers significant functionality improvements for rigs that are currently fitted with a pinger / receive only Hydrophone. This additional interrogate functionality means that you are able to interrogate the beacon whilst it is operational on the sea floor for important status information like battery life and to control and optimise power level settings. This allows you to optimise the power settings to the water depths and environment you are working in and potentially achieve increased operational use and also pre plan battery replacements with more certainty.
Upgrading to the latest DCU
Combined with this Hydrophone enhancement is the release of our latest DCU (PN 8007-6001) which supports the new MK2 Hydrophones and offers the latest high performance PC hardware technology available, including a faster, more reliable, solid state hard drive with a brighter LED display and high levels of shock and vibration proofing.
Early this year Songa Drilling capitalised on the above benefits by upgrading two of it’s Semi-Submersible Drilling rigs USBL systems to the latest digital NASDrill USBL system.