Zero USV | Digest as the master unit and the other the slave. Each drive produces up to 40 kW of thrust. Ratsey says that as RAD Propulsion was founded by Dan Hook (previously from ASV Ltd and L3Harris ASV), the company understands the integration requirements of USVs, and has thus designed its products for transparent interfacing, digital feedback and control-by-wire. “The RAD system isn’t Type-approved yet, but RAD is working very intensively on that. There are alternative drives that are already Type-approved, but, honestly, they just aren’t as good as RAD’s,” he says. “We’d rather use this system, especially since it will be compliant in due course. “It’s taken a lot of tuning and bespoke work, as well as pulling together five or so different companies to talk to each other, to align specifications across the generators, chargers, batteries, inverters and drives. But the result has been a powertrain we think will be successful, with the necessary functionality and redundancy for extended work at sea.” The future For the first markets for the Oceanus12, Ratsey and his team have analysed the construction and cost targets of the global offshore wind industry. They concluded that the only realistic way these can be achieved is through having fleets of autonomous USVs, making detailed seabed maps pre-construction, and then routinely monitoring wind farms during construction or in operation. “We’ve got a package that is built on proven technology and is genuinely turnkey, such that surveyor customers can take our USV, send it out and start making money from day one,” Ratsey says. Going forwards from today, Zero anticipates building up the fleet of 12 m USVs over the next 18 months, with a target of 12 vessels being on the water by December 2025. It will also keep a weather eye on the potential benefits of going bigger, with increased payloads and range, which a hypothetical Oceanus18 and Oceanus24 would allow. To start with, 12 m has been chosen, capable of deep ocean sailing. “Right now, we’re fully able to build these USVs as fast as the market can order them,” Ratsey says. “I think five years from now, we’ll see a lot of USVs – ours especially, we hope – in fleets of different sizes, because USV fleets will make a real and huge difference for industry. “Imagine a survey field and place six USVs with multibeam echosounders on it – suddenly you’re able to map in swaths of 2.5 km instead of 400 m. That’s going to change everything.” 113 Uncrewed Systems Technology | October/November 2024 Oceanus12 Monohull Aluminium kit construction Diesel-electric Twin electric outboard drives Self-righting Hull length: 11.55 m Waterline length: 11.4 m Max beam: 2.33 m Displacement: 4 t Max speed: 10 knots Operating speed: 7 knots Nominal range: 2500 miles (4023 km) Key suppliers Laser cutting: Snijtech Construction kits: Snijtech Generator: Beta Marine Alternator: Mecc Alte Thrusters: RAD Propulsion Autopilot: MarineAI GPU: nVidia GNSS: Veripos Cameras: IRIS Radars: Navtech Radars: Simrad Satcom: Iridium Satcom: Thales Key specifications The two 21 kWh batteries and two 40 kW motor drives connect over a 400 V bus, with RAD Propulsion supplying both sets of equipment
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