Unmanned Systems Technology 036

54 W hile international travel remains severely limited, technological advances and a growth in demand for autonomous systems among maritime organisations have continued apace. This spurred the organisers of Oceanology International to hold a virtual edition of its event last December on the custom-built, AI-driven Oi Connect events and meetings platform, which drew widespread attendance from the ocean science and technology communities. A range of mission-critical new solutions were unveiled and promoted, a selection of which follows here. We spoke with iXblue about two new products it has unveiled: the Gaps M5 USBL and the SeapiX-C 3D multi- beam echo sounder. Paul Urvoas commented, “The Gaps M5 is our latest acoustic positioning product. The original Gaps [now called the Gaps M7] was designed as a ‘non-compromise’ USBL to provide the highest possible accuracy; for less demanding applications we’ve produced this new, more cost-effective version, keeping key benefits such as a compact, Artificial intelligence enabled this show to go ahead in virtual form, allowing Rory Jackson to present some of the product highlights here Maintaining connections February/March 2021 | Unmanned Systems Technology iXblue’s Gaps M5 USBL integrates an Octans Nano AHRS based on the company’s FOG technology to stabilise for roll and pitch