Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS) Takes Delivery of a Gavia AUV

A global leader in the provision of low logistic Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs), Teledyne Gavia announced that it has completed the sale and recent delivery of a Gavia Offshore Surveyor AUV to the Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS) in Oban, Scotland.

The Gavia AUV, selected by SAMS, is rated to 500m depth, and includes an interferometric bathymetry system as its primary scientific sensor and utilizes a high accuracy Doppler Velocity Log (Teledyne RD Instruments, Poway, CA) aided Inertial Navigation System for subsea positioning. Additional modules can be added as SAMS AUV mission requirements evolve. The SAMS Gavia AUV will be known as “Freya” after the Norse goddess of beauty and will be employed for a variety of scientific applications including habitat mapping and geomorphology with initial archaeological surveys planned for July 2015.

Dr. John Howe, Senior Lecturer in Marine Geology stated, “SAMS are delighted to receive the Gavia AUV on behalf of the NERC Marine Autonomous and Robotics (MARS) community. We have been especially impressed by the vehicles’ adaptability and ease of use and the GeoSwath+ data has been excellent. We look forward to working closely with Gavia in the future”.

“We are delighted to have a world class scientific organization, such as SAMS, join our growing group of Gavia scientific users. The modular design of the Gavia AUV gives scientific organizations the flexibility they need to add or change modules, or develop custom payloads, in response to changing mission requirements,” added Arnar Steingrimsson, Director of Vehicle Sales at Teledyne Marine Systems.

The Gavia AUV is an autonomous sensor platform that is user configurable by the addition of one or more sensor, navigation, or battery modules utilizing a unique twist lock system. The Gavia is a fully low logistics modular system designed to be operated from vessels of opportunity and has the greatest depth rating of any vehicle in its class.

Scottish Association for Marine Science
The Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS) is Scotland’s largest and oldest independent marine science organization, dedicated to delivering marine science for a healthy and sustainable marine environment through research, education and engagement with society. Based near Oban on the Scottish west coast, SAMS research strengths include marine renewables, aquaculture, marine biotechnology, marine policy, deep-sea systems, climate change and polar science.