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Mer et Marine: ECA Group's AUV A18-D to participate in Search for sulphide clusters by drones
Tuesday, June 20 2017
The Melodi project aims to reinvent the exploration of marine resources. Within this framework ECA Group A18-D AUV will be used as a Master AUV for the search mission.
Published on Mer et Marine, June 2017.
Carried by a consortium led by Créocéan, the Melodi project, aimed at coordinating a group of submarine drones to detect and deeply map exploitable mining resources, starting with sulfur clusters, is entering a new phase. After defining the technical-operational constraints and the exact modalities of implementation of a pack composed of a master AUV around which follow-up AUVs are operating, the time has come for sea trials. Will take place off the coast of the Landes.
ECA Group's A18D will be involved as pack leader, responsible for leading the mission and guiding the trajectory of the "follower robots" developed by the Breton company RTSys. These means will be implemented from the Jif Xplorer, a Jiffmar Offshore Services ship based in Bayonne. Operation of sensors, launching and recovery, communication between AUV master and AUV followers, training in accordance with a pre-established flight plan, incident safety protocols, cartographic tools ... The tests will be carried out around the Gouf of Cape Breton, a pit that descends to more than 2000 meters. The objective of Melodi is to be able to explore the depths, up to 3000 meters deep.
The use of numerous robots will allow the rapid mapping of very large areas, each gear having to go through a predefined path in advance, to rake its own area, allowing a complete grid of the area to be explored.
For example, it is estimated that a pack of about 10 followers will need only 24 hours to map a 100 km2 surface and to collect data to identify geological sites potentially rich in minerals.
Once the tests of the demonstrator have been completed, a validation campaign is planned in 2019/2020 in Wallis and Futuna, a French archipelago located between New Caledonia and Tahiti. Sulphide clusters, very rich in materials used for the manufacture of electronic components and for the development of nanotechnologies, were discovered during a campaign carried out between 2010 and 2013 by Eramet, Technip and Ifremer.
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