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14 Platform one Forssea has developed an autonomous subsea homing vehicle that can transfer power of up to 100 kW (at 2 kV) and data at up to 1 Gbit/s to deep-sea infrastructures (writes Nick Flaherty). The autonomous positioning comes from a Sonardyne acoustic ultrashort baseline system. Within 5 m of the target the Atoll then uses a low-cost IP camera and inertial sensors combined with machine learning algorithms. A subsystem called V-Loc uses a calibrated camera and QR code marker to recognise underwater equipment such as well heads or valves. This helps the Atoll to position itself accurately to monitor the equipment. Another subsystem called Polar X helps a remote operator identify targets in low visibility by using polarised light and an optimised camera. Forssea is selling the subsystems separately to oil and gas operators. The craft weighs 1405 kg/km in air and 1080 kg/km in water, and can be easily deployed from a small boat. It is intended for resident ROV applications, where the Atoll docks with the resident ROV station for charging and data transfer. A docking station can also be deployed on the seabed to connect the Atoll quickly to an existing installation such as a well head or scientific observatory. The station is designed by Forssea on a case-by-case basis to suit the particular application. Homing in on the seabed Underwater vehicles The Atoll navigates down to underwater installations to provide them with power and data June/July 2018 | Unmanned Systems Technology Swift Navigation is developing a cloud- based autonomous vehicle localisation GNSS correction service called Skylark (writes Rory Jackson). “It isn’t practical to tie autonomous cars to a base station – with a range of about only 20 miles, they need to be able to drive from one destination to the next,” said Diana Schlosser from Swift Navigation. “Receiving corrections from the cloud eliminates this tethering to a base station, making self-driving cars truly feasible.” The company cites several key challenges in the development of an effective internet-based localisation correction solution. These include achieving rapid convergence times (as driving decisions must be made every few seconds), reliability even in GNSS-hindering environments, and the ability to scale up the cloud platform to support a global population of self-driving automobiles. Schlosser said, “As satellite signals travel down to Earth they first hit the ionosphere, where the Sun’s radiation causes disruption and errors. “The signals are further affected by weather in the troposphere and by tall buildings causing multi-path issues. Our engineers correct for these signal errors to obtain the centimetre- level positioning accuracy offered by Skylark.” Swift Navigation has also released a firmware update for its Piksi Multi and Duro GNSS receivers, which adds support for four satellite-based augmentation systems – WAAS in the US, EGNOS in the EU, MSAS in Japan and GAGAN in India. “These constellations are critical for remote areas, in precision agriculture and similar applications where cellular coverage and internet access is patchy or absent,” Schlosser said. Cloud corrections for cars Driverless vehicles