Uncrewed Systems Technology 047 l Aergility ATLIS l AI focus l Clevon 1 UGV l Geospatial insight l Intergeo 2022 report l AUSA 2022 report I Infinity fuel cell l BeeX A.IKANBILIS l Propellers focus I Phoenix Wings Orca

91 a wider (and potentially less costly) range of smaller ships to be used for AUV inspection missions; their autonomy also makes their operations less labour- intensive. However, with those benefits comes the loss of real-time human intelligence, whereas ROVs stream live visual and sonar feedback to their operators, who can then direct the vehicle closer to or further along anything of note. Most AUVs will only provide feedback once they have surfaced (delivering their survey data by wireless link) or been recovered (by cable or removable memory drive), so to gain further insight into any signs of wear or damage, the wind farm owner would need to perform or commission a second mission, potentially followed by a third, and so on. Wind farms are also prone to tidal effects, particularly those relatively close to the shoreline such as Nordsee One. These play havoc with ROVs, primarily owing to their tethers being dragged around, and with AUVs as they lack the self-stabilising motor configurations of ROVs. Maintenance expenses therefore remain an Achilles heel, not only for Northland Power but any company hoping to expand their wind farms. However, a potential solution presented itself in the form of Singapore- based BeeX Autonomous Systems and its A.IKANBILIS HAUV (Hovering Autonomous Underwater Vehicle), which in September 2022 demonstrated its ‘adaptive autonomy’ technology at Nordsee One. Adaptive autonomy refers collectively to the capabilities that BeeX (led by CEO and co-founder Grace Chia) has tailored to enable the A.IKANBILIS to inspect every nook and cranny of the Nordsee One piles with the persistence and wear recognition of a human operating an ROV, but while functioning with the superior autonomy and efficiency of an AUV. “The main difference between us and other AUV companies is that BeeX’s genesis came from a team with 10 years of self-driving car development at the National University of Singapore, and although we’ve pivoted into the marine realm, we’ve carried over our core competencies in AI software,” Chia says. “Self-driving autonomy stacks can actually be hugely applicable to underwater autonomy, but that applicability hasn’t received much attention or investment compared with autonomous cars or drones.” BeeX found its automotive competencies to be a huge enabler in its comparatively recent ambitions to create a UUV that can think for itself – so much so that Northland Power specifically chose the company to demonstrate that its autonomous vehicle could perform a ‘launch and leave’ inspection of a wind farm under real-world conditions. HAUV capabilities Already available to rent in Europe through BeeX’s Hamburg-based distribution partner Subsea Europe Services, the A.IKANBILIS measures 90 x 80 x 40 cm and weighs about 60 kg in air. It is fully electric and is fitted with two 500 Wh subsea-rated lithium-ion battery packs, enabling up to 8 hours of underwater operation between charges. The hovering element comes from an arrangement of seven shrouded thrusters disposed about the HUAV’s hull. Three are oriented vertically (and positioned at the left, right and rear) for ascent, descent, pitch and roll, while four are oriented horizontally and are pointed tangentially from the hull to enable forward, reverse, sideways and rotational movements. BeeX A.IKANBILIS | In operation Uncrewed Systems Technology | December/January 2023 The A.IKANBILIS’ intelligence is powered by an Intel CPU and an Nvidia GPU, which run in parallel in real time