ACUA Ocean, a UK provider of platforms for sustainable maritime data collection, is beginning trials with its Pioneer-class unmanned surface vessel (USV) design, the company has told ESD.
From December 2024 the first vessel, USV Pioneer, is conducting three months of harbour and site acceptance testing followed by sea trials out of ACUA Ocean’s facilities in Plymouth, Devon.
The Pioneer-class USV is 14.2 m long and employs a small waterplane area twin hull (SWATH) design that can accommodate modular sensor and system payloads of up to 6.5 tonnes from its 20 ft (6 m) ISO-standard-footprint moonpool. Although the vessel is designed ostensibly for maritime data collection, it could provide an off-the-shelf solution for the Royal Navy for a broad range of ‘dull, dirty or dangerous’ missions where an unmanned platform would be preferred.
“Pioneer’s stable SWATH hull form enables multi-week seagoing endurance for unlimited open-ocean operations capable of payload operation in significant sea states,” ACUA Ocean CEO Mike Tinmouth explained to ESD, noting that remotely operated vehicle (ROV) operations could be performed even when the significant wave height (the average of the highest third of waves) is greater than 4 m.
“The prototype vessel is hybrid-electric with a modular hydrogen powertrain that can be swapped out for alternative fuels on future variants,” Tinmouth added. “The hydrogen-electric vessel delivers increased reliability by removing generator failures and maintenance cycles, whilst enabling a reduced acoustic, chemical and thermal signature for enhanced data collection.”
The hydrogen-electric powertrain delivers up to 1 kW continuous power for the USV’s payload and sensors throughout its multi-week endurance.
Once the sea trials with USV Pioneer are concluded, Tinmouth said ACUA Ocean will be conducting a 28-day demonstration for the UK Department of Transport under the Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition and thereafter working with a range of OEMs and clients on the integration of advanced payloads for open ocean data collection.”
(Image: ACUA Ocean)
