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Home Subsea Fukada Salvage and Marine Works Orders Explorer Autonomous Underwater Vehicle from ISE (Japan)

Fukada Salvage and Marine Works Orders Explorer Autonomous Underwater Vehicle from ISE (Japan)

June 22, 2011

 

ISE Ltd. announces that Fukada Salvage and Marine Works Co. Ltd. has placed an order for an Explorer autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV). The vehicle will be used for commercial survey operations and is equipped with an EdgeTech 2200M sidescan sonar and sub-bottom profiler, an R2Sonics 2022 multibeam echosounder and a SeaBird FastCAT conductivity, temperature and depth sensor.

The Fukada Explorer will also be supplied with a light-weight self-articulating ramp based launch and recovery system which will be installed on one of their survey ships, the Shinkai Maru. This will enable Fukada Salvage to launch and recover their AUV up to Sea State 4.

Fukada Salvage and Marine Works Co. Ltd.

Fukada Salvage and Marine Works Co. Ltd.’s was established in 1910 and was originally based in Kure, Hiroshima Prefecture. Originally concentrating on salvage alone, Fukada’s operations expanded following reorganization in 1949. Their head office is now in Osaka, Japan, and their business expanded to include marine construction, bridge installation and civil engineering. Their fleet includes the vessel Musashi, which is the world’s largest class floating crane, capable of lifting 3700 tons.

International Submarine Engineering Ltd.

ISE was formed in 1974 to design and build underwater vehicles. Based just outside Vancouver, Canada, ISE has delivered more than 240 vehicles and over 400 robotic manipulators to more than 20 countries around the world.

The Explorer family of AUVs was introduced in 2003 and follows previous ISE AUVs including ARCS and Theseus. Explorer is a modular vehicle that can be configured for commercial, scientific or military customers. It can carry a wide range of sensors and has endurance options ranging from 12 to 85 hours. It has developed a reputation as a reliable, stable and flexible sensor platform and in total, ISE AUVs have completed more than 120,000 kilometres of surveys.

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Source:  ISE, June 22 , 2011;