A harbor area for sure can be the natural habitat of an unmanned surface vessel. Small size, supervision by an experienced operator and redundant communication and stopping systems guarantee safe operation without affecting the current port operations. The electric drive and low energy consumption enable a real reduction in work emission. Automatic tracking of the planned route ensures precision and repeatability of measurements, unattainable with manual control.

We conducted a demonstration of the use of USV mKurs in the port area, combined with the acquisition of bathymetric data, in the waters of the Port of Gdynia Authority S.A., which is so open to innovations.

The USV is equipped with a Winghead i80s multibeam echosounder from NORBIT Subsea. Stabilization of 1024 beams in three planes makes it possible to achieve unprecedented quality of the generated seabed digital model.