Marine technology and engineering specialist Sonardyne Brasil Ltda. is celebrating its 20th anniversary at OTC Brasil 2019 (stand D44), having first set up an office in the country in 1999.

It’s already proving to be a successful anniversary year. The past 12 months have been the busiest yet in terms of orders for the company’s underwater positioning, navigation and tracking technologies, reflecting the positive outlook for the country’s offshore energy market and growing focus on ocean health.

The systems, supplied to operators of survey, subsea construction, pipelay and ROV support vessels, as well as Brazil’s flagship ocean research vessel, range from hybrid navigation solutions for unmanned underwater vehicles to ship-based Ultra-Short BaseLine (USBL) acoustic systems that are capable of tracking subsea targets to beyond 11 km range.

A significant recent highlight is that the company is also working with Shell Brasil and Brazilian research institute Senai-Cimatec to develop ground-breaking autonomous technology to make monitoring deep water pre-salt oil fields more efficient, as well as to help the advance the country’s subsea robotic capability.

Barry Cairns, Sonardyne’s Vice President for South America, as well as Europe and Africa, says that while increasing offshore activity in Brazil is helping to drive new business, this year’s success is also about the technologies and local service the firm offers, from its operational base in Rio das Ostras and commercial hub in Rio de Janeiro.

“Interest is definitely picking up in Brazil,” he says, “with engineering, procurement, construction and installation (EPCI) activity increasing month-on-month. So we’re seeing the supply chain benefit from that. Currently, technologies like our SPRINT-Nav are also a big part of our and our customers’ ongoing success. Contractors need high performance for their ROV and survey operations, even more so in the deeper waters they’re now routinely operating in. But, they also need technology that’s easy to integrate and use and that’s what we’ve been able to offer, with more capability and less hardware.

A large number of this year’s orders have in fact focused on SPRINT-Nav, a high-performance hybrid navigation instrument which is making ROV operations more accurate but also easier. This is because it combines, in a single product, the functionality of what would normally be separate instruments – an inertial navigation system (INS), Doppler velocity log (DVL) and a high accuracy depth sensor. This means it’s easier to integrate, because offsets don’t need to be calculated, it’s more compact and it’s easier to use because it doesn’t need calibration.

Globally, the system is fast becoming the INS instrument of choice for underwater vehicles, and Brazil is no different. Many of the region’s ROV support vessel fleet now have SPRINT-Nav on board their robots. This year alone, DOF Subsea has installed SPRINT-Navs on board six of its vessels in Brazil, supporting ROV operations in water depths down to 3,000 m. SPRINT-Nav has also recently been installed on ROVs on board Fugro’s Up Coral offshore support vessel carrying out intervention, repair and maintenance (IRM). duties. Oceaneering has also been using SPRINT-Nav on ROVs from the deployed from the Marlin Copacabana.

Meanwhile, Sonardyne’s Ranger 2 USBL system is also proving popular. Over the summer, it has been installed on Brazil’s flagship research vessel, the Alpha Crucis, so that it’s 21-strong science team can precisely track their instruments and sensors.

The University of São Paulo, which operates the vessel, chose Sonardyne’s pre-calibrated Gyro-USBL transceiver for the vessel and 4,000 m depth rated Wideband Sub-Mini 6 Plus (WSM 6+) transponders for its in-water equipment, which includes sediment corers, towed cameras, landers and ROVs.

Gyro USBL is pre-calibrated thanks to its perfectly aligned acoustic transceiver and built-in attitude and heading reference sensor (AHRS). This combination eliminates the need for measurements to be undertaken to determine the alignment of the ship’s motion sensors to the acoustic transceiver – making mobilisation faster.

“The university’s vessel operates from off the coast to the deepest parts of the South Atlantic so it’s important it’s equipped with the best available technologies available to underpin its important work,” says Andre Moura, Sales & Applications Manager for Sonardyne in Brazil. “Ranger 2 Gyro USBL, deployed using our over-the-side deployment pole, is the perfect option for the vessel – it’s quick to install and pre-calibrated. Plus it gives the university the option to move the complete system to another vessel if the need ever arises.”

Reflecting on the last two decades and looking ahead to 2020, Cairns says the outlook is equally positive thanks to some significant field development projects kicking off and the work with Shell Brazil and Senai-Cimatec reaching significant milestones. “Throughout Sonardyne’s history, we’ve recognised the importance of investing and committing to local markets. That drove the decision to open our first Brazilian office in 1999,” he says. “Today, we’re seeing that strategy pay dividends; we understand the market, we understand our clients and we have the capability in country to meet the needs of both. We’re here for the long term and looking forward to whatever challenges the future has to offer.”

Visit Sonardyne Brasil Ltda. on stand D44 during OTC Brasil 2019.