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59 The Solus-LR was built for Defence Research and Development Canada (DRDC), which wanted a long-range and endurance autonomous subsea solution. While the trialling and use of that system is ongoing, DRDC’s feedback has motivated Cellula to develop two more platforms, principally for naval use in some key contexts. One is the upcoming Solus-XR. As its name suggests, it takes a lot of lessons and inspiration from the Solus-LR. “The LR’s long endurance and 2000 km range came primarily from its hydrogen fuel cell powertrain and considerable onboard storage of hydrogen and oxygen reactants,” says Alex Johnson, director of AUV products at Cellula Robotics. “From its development, we have received a lot of interest in going even further than that, maybe 5000 km between refuelling, and carrying bigger, more powerful payloads. “That’s where the Solus-XR came from. There are a number of defence and even commercial users now interested in having much more onboard energy than even the 8.5 m-long Solus-LR, while retaining the modularity and swappability of its payloads, with a standard set of interfaces capable of accepting COTS or custom sonars, special equipment and so on for different mission profiles.” The Solus-XR is 12 m long, 1.7 mwide and 1.7 m tall (its cross-section being square-like with rounded corners), with an estimated range of 5000 km and an expected maximum endurance somewhere of more than45 days, pending further trials to ascertain an exact figure, if it never uses its suction anchorto station-keep. It also has an 8 knot sprint speed and displaces about 10,000 kg, depending on configuration differences between units. “This is the largest UUV we’ve built so far, and it means we’re not very space- constrained. There’s a minimum volume for reactant storage, then we have to fair that in with the nose and tail, but at each of those two ends we get so much space. We can fill it with 5000 litres of payloads in total, around 10 kW of redundant Honeywell fuel cells, and all the navigation equipment, actuators and so on that we’d need,” Johnson says. He adds that the power and volume available in the XR enables it to deploy other uncrewed systems, such as ROVs that could use manipulators for hands- on infrastructure work. For now, the Solus-XR’s first prototype has completed construction, bench tests and pool tests, and its initial sea trials are set to begin in the first half of next year. The other new UUV solution from Cellula is the Imotus-S, a vehicle notably smaller than either the XR and LR to suit its targeted mission niche. “The intention behind the Imotus-S is to have three or four small UUVs that users can carry on their ship, to deploy themwhen needed to measure their ship’s magnetic and acoustic UUVs | Insight There’s a minimum volume for reactant storage, then we have to fair that in with the nose and the tail, but at each of those ends we get so much space Uncrewed Systems Technology | February/March 2023 Cellula Robotics is also developing the Imotus-S AUV, for measuring the acoustic and magnetic signatures of naval vessels (Courtesy of Cellula Robotics)