Ashtead gets funds for unmanned digital twinning project

Welaptega, an Ashtead Technology company, has secured $500,000 to develop a product to enable the digital twinning of underwater infrastructure without the need for offshore personnel.

In collaboration with Whitecap Scientific, SubC Imaging, and Nova Scotia Community College SEATAC division, the new digital twinning technology will develop an intuitive bridge between Welaptega’s and Whitecap Scientific’s technology systems.

According to Ashtead, upon the launch of the project, conventional offshore ROV and vessel crew will be able to collect high quality image data for post-processing digital twins, guided by real-time 3D reconstruction, to give feedback on image quality and coverage.

The funding was awarded by Canada’s Ocean Supercluster.

“We’re excited to be at the forefront of transitioning high-quality digital twinning services from the domain of specialists to conventional ROV and vessel crew,” said Tyler de Gier, general manager of Welaptega.

“The flexible product created through this project will allow our clients to cost-effectively digitise their high value, safety critical assets without the need for offshore photogrammetry specialists, facilitating a transition to unmanned operations without jeopardising service quality.”